COSTS OF PRODUCING SUGAR BEETS
5
ment of Agriculture and by a large number of agricultural cost ac-
countants, and is based upon the fact that the acre is the unit em-
ployed by farmers in their calculations and that the hours of labor
per acre, pounds of seed planted per acre, manure applied per acre,
ind other basic unit requirements in cost vary but little from year
to year * unless there is a radical change in farm practice. For factors
exhibiting variations from year to year, such as yields per acre,
wages, contract labor rates, prices of horse feeds, prices of seed, prices
of commercial fertilizer, and land charges, due allowance was made.
Illustrations of individual calculations may help to make the
method clear to the reader.
Wages for 1923 had been obtained on the schedules by the agents
of the commission while they were collecting the 1922 data. Wages
for 1921 were derived by adjusting the 1922 wages, as found in the
investigation, by the percentage of change in monthly wages (without
board) paid farm laborers. According to available wage data the
average monthly farm wages in Idaho (without board) were 2 per cent
higher in 1921 than in 1922. Adding 2 per cent to the 1992 wage
rate, therefore, established the 1921 wage rate. An adjustment was
also made in the hours of labor for loading and hauling the higher
yield of beets in 1923. This same method was followed in all caleula-
tions for 1921.
Contract labor rates for 1921 and 1923 were obtained directly
from the farmers visited in the investigation and were checked
against the printed beet contracts for those years, furnished to the
commission by the sugar manufacturers. To these rates were added
the 1922 costs of the minor items of perquisites furnished by the
growers to the contract laborers, and also the extra wages, if any,
paid to contract laborers at the rates specified in the 1921 and 1923
contracts for harvesting unusually large crops. For example, the
contract labor rates in the Twin Falls area, Idaho, were $21.50 in 1921,
18 in 1922, and $19.50 in 1923. These are the amounts provided in
the contracts with the laborers for the combined handwork of block-
ing, thinning, hoeing, pulling, and topping an acre of sugar beets
under standard conditions.
To obtain the total cost of contract labor as shown in the tables
the cost of the regular work under standard conditions was increased
by (1) extra wages for harvesting an unusually good crop and for
extra hoeings; and (2) the value of the perquisites furnished by the
growers to the contract laborers. These two items averaged $7.55 per
acre for 1921, $8.78 for 1922, and $10.35 for 1923. Hence the regular
cost of contract labor when increased by these amounts equaled $29.05
per acre in 1921, $26.78 in 1922, and $29.85 in 1923.
Horse costs for 1921 and 1923 were obtained by adjusting the feed
costs, as found in the investigation for 1922, to changes in prices as
shown by the Yearbooks of the United States Department of Agri-
culture for these years. Chores and other labor involved in the care
of horses were charged at the new cost rates determined by the
method described above. An adjustment was made in the hours of
horse labor in hauling the higher yield of beets in 1923. For the
remaining items the 1922 data were used.
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_ * Comparison of the commission’s data with similar data obtained by the Department of Agricultura
‘Dn Investigations made for other years shows a close agreement in these basic units of cost
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