COSTS OF PRODUCING SUGAR BEETS 15
cultivator, also, is especially adapted to sugar-beet work, being con-
structed to cultivate four rows corresponding to the drill. In harvest-
ing, the beet lifter, a special implement not required for other crops,
is used. For hauling the beets to the factory, more than the
ordinary number of wagons and specially constructed wagon boxes
are needed and in some places trucks are used. Because of the bulki-
ness of sugar beets, it is uneconomical to transport them any great
distance to the factory; so that before the sugar-beet industry can
be established in a community, a local factory must be built and
aquipped with machinery, beet dumps, railroad sidings, and feed
yards. The necessary capital investment in an efficient beet-sugar
factory varies from about $500,000 to $3,000,000, according to the
~apacity. The average per factory is somewhat over $1,000,000.
CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE EXPANSION OF THE INDUSTRY
The economic importance in the United States of the sugar-beet
industry has already been considered. In addition to the general
advantages of the maintenance of the industry a number of inciden-
tal benefits are derived:
The farmer’s income from the sugar-beet crop is relatively depend-
able. He knows when he plants his seed what basic price he will
receive per ton of beets delivered to the factory. The usual contract
between the beet grower and the factory provides for a basic price
with a bonus varying according to the price of sugar. Comparison
may be made between the average income from sugar beets in the
United States and such competitive cash crops as beans, potatoes,
and wheat. The average percentage of variation from normal in the
five-year period 1921-1925 for sugar beets was about the same as
that for beans but the income from wheat varied considerably more
and potatoes much more.
The introduction into a community of an additional cash crop
adapted to local conditions has a tendency to improve the economic
status of the farmer. The possibility of choice between several cash
crops enables him to distribute his acreage and to reduce his risk
factor. The addition of a suitable cash crop thus has a stabilizing
effect upon the agriculture of a community.
The beet-sugar factory with its heavy capital investment is abso-
lutely dependent for its success upon the successful growing of sugar
beets in its immediate vicinity. The sugar companies, therefore,
have endeavored by various methods to promote clean cultivation,
the sowing of selected seed, the economical use of manure and com-
mercial fertilizers, and the intelligent handling of the crop. They
conduct schools, employ agricultural experts and field agents to advise
the farmers, and distribute educational literature.
The sugar-beet enterprise readily lends itself to combination
with the production of livestock. The crop furnishes considerable
quantities of animal feeds in the form of the beet tops and beet pulp.
The farmers are encouraged to keep more livestock than they other-
wise might and this results in larger quantities of manure becoming
available for fertilizing the land. The thorough and deep cultivation
necessary for beets reduces weed infestation and constitutes an ideal
preparation for a succeeding small grain crop. Experience both in
