United States

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1795102764

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-179770

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: United States

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: Gov. Pr. Off.

Year of publication:: 1928

Scope:: VII, 112 S

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Economic considerations concerning the maintenance and growth of the industry

Collection:: Economics Books

16 COSTS OF PRODUCING SUGAR BEETS the United States and in Germany indicates that the introduction of sugar beets into the rotation results in considerably increased yields of small grain and hay. In the commission’s investigation, 1,699 farmers in the United States replied to the question concerning their experience as to the effect of preceding a small grain crop with a crop of sugar beets. Of these, 1,482 replied that the yield of the small grain crop was increased by this practice. Of the 745 farmers reporting concerning hay, 541 replied that the yield of hay was thus increased. (See Table 79, p. 99.) SOCIOLOGICAL "ASPECTS OF THE SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY Studies by the United States Department of Agriculture in the leading sugar-beet States have shown that more than two-thirds of the work required in producing sugar beets is done by hand labor.? The commission ’s study of the sugar-beet industry shows that about 72 per cent of the total hand labor on beets, including the harvesting, is performed by contract labor. A contract, made between the beet orower and contract laborer, specifies the terms of payment and the time and manner of doing the hand work (blocking, thinning, weed- ing, hoeing, pulling, and topping) on the beet crop. The remaining 28 per cent of the hand labor is done largely by the families of the farmers, and, to only a small extent, by the farmers themselves or by wage labor. The supply of contract labor is usually arranged for by the sugar-beet companies, although the contracts are made between beet growers and the laborers. The sugar companies usually have no control over such contract laborers, but simply assist the growers in finding and bringing them to the beet-growing districts and dis- tributing them among the growers according to their needs. This supply is derived either from families resident near the sugar-beet farms or from families or men brought in from a distance. Formerly it was possible for agents of the companies to obtain a sufficient supply of contract labor from the cities and towns of the Middle West for the beet fields in that area; and to obtain from the western cities and mining districts sufficient for the western fields. This labor was largely recruited from Russian-German families, among whom it has long been customary for the women and children to work in the fields with the men. More recently it has been neces- sary to bring in considerable numbers of Mexicans. According to estimates of the sugar-beet companies, approximately 100,000 adult laborers, or a working force of adults and children equivalent to that number, were required for the 1926 crop. Of the force of about 78,000 contract laborers employed about 30 per cent were Mexicans, 19 per cent were foreign-born northern Europeans, and about 1 per cent were Japanese. In 1922, when the commis- sion’s cost study was made, about 22 per cent of the contract workers were Mexicans. 7. 8. Department of Agriculture, Bulletins Nos. 735, 760, and 963.

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