Idaho

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1795100052

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-179691

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Idaho

Edition:: [Rev. ed.]

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: Gov. Pr. Off.

Year of publication:: 1928

Scope:: VII, 80 S

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Report on the farmers' costs of production of sugar beets in Idaho for the years of 1921. 1922, and 1923

Collection:: Economics Books

COSTS OF PRODUCING SUGAR BEETS 9 In ascertaining the cost of labor per hour, 10 hours were consid- ered a working day, 25 working days considered a month, and 3,000 working hours a year, per man. The hours per day as ascer- tained by the commission’s agents in the field are confirmed by figures published by the United States Department of Agriculture and investigations made by a number of State agricultural experi- ment stations.® The investigations made by these agencies show this to be about the number of hours and days actually worked on farms of such character. On every farm there are certain indirect labor items which can not be charged to any particular farm crop or livestock enterprise and which therefore must be prorated. These include repairing machin- ory, harness, machine sheds, fences, barns, and drainage systems, time spent in purchasing material with which to make repairs, in working on public and farm roads, in looking for labor, and in farm office work. The proper basis for prorating the costs of such items is that which most equitably distributes them according to the bene- fits derived. The amount of indirect labor varies with the individual farm and farmer. Investigations of detailed cost accounts kept on repre- sentative farms in Minnesota, Kansas, and New York show that the total indirect labor on such farms amounts to from 10.8 to 23.4 per cent of the total labor.” The variation in rates is due in part to differences in cost accounting methods and in part to differences in the types of farms considered. Analysis of these data shows that indi- rect labor, such as is chargeable to sugar beets, ranges from 614 to 10 per cent of the total direct labor. As 614 per cent of total direct labor on sugar beets amounts to approximately 15 per cent of the labor on machine operations on beets, indirect labor is calculated by adding 15 per cent of labor on machine operations to the total direct charges. The hours of direct labor have been used as the basis of prorating the indirect labor. Contract or hand labor costs include blocking, thinning, hoeing, pulling, topping, and in some cases the loading of the beets onto wagons. All such work is “hand” labor, as distinguished from “ma- chine” labor, such as plowing and harrowing, which are usually per- formed by the farmer and operator or by his regular hired help. Because such hand labor is largely done under contract and because the contracts are uniformly drawn to include the same items it is grouped under “contract labor.” Hand labor, whether performed by laborers under contract for so much an acre, by the farm operator and his family, or by the regular farm hired help, is charged at the contract rates. To the amount charged at the regular contract rate are added extra wages where actually paid for harvesting a crop yielding more than a specified tonnage or for extra hoeing, and also the estimated value of perquisites actually furnished the contract laborers by the grower of the beets. + See Tables 585 and 586 in the 1922 Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture. ' Minnesota Exp. Sta. Bul. 205, p. 92, shows that on 21 farms in 1920, 16.3 per cent of total labor was indirect labor; on 22 farms in 1921, 10.8 per cent of total labor was indirect labor; and on the average for the \Wo years 1920, 1921, the indirect labor was 15.7 per cent of the direct labor. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bul. 1271, p. 68, shows a rate of 13.5 per cent on Minnesota farms. U. S. Dept. Agr. manuscript, in press, shows a rate of 16 per cent on Kansas farms. New York Exp. Sta. Bul. 414, p. 44,shows a rate of 23.4 per cent, on New York farms. I2A04— 9

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