COSTS OF PRODUCING SUGAR BEETS 33 
These conditions indicate on the one hand that the costs per ton 
obtained in this investigation are lower than the average for all 
farms in the country as a whole because of the greater sugar-beet 
acreage per farm and the higher yields per acre obtained on the 
farms included in the investigation. On the other hand, it is prob- 
able that some of this higher yield is due to more thorough cultiva- 
tion, to the application of greater quantities of commercial fertilizer 
and manure, to the use of better grade land or to more efficient farm 
management; and that though the averages for the areas investigated 
are not identical with the averages reported by the United States 
Department of Agriculture for all farms growing sugar beets, the 
farms investigated and the data obtained are representative of the 
sucar-beet industry of the country. 
EXPLANATION OF TERMS 
Direct costs. 
Direct costs are costs incurred specifically for the crop of sugar beets 
and directly chargeable thereto. The major items are man labor and 
horse labor. Of lesser importance are tractor costs and materials such 
as commercial fertilizer, manure, seed, spray material, water rented or 
purchased specifically for irrigating the beets, and insurance on the 
crop. 
Labor costs include the wages paid for hired labor, wages at the 
going rates in the community for the farmer and members of his 
family doing farm work on sugar beets, and the farm market value 
of the perquisites actually furnished hired labor. The perquisites 
considered are house, land for garden, coal, wood, vegetables, fruit, 
milk, butter, eggs, feed for horse or cow, and transportation of labor- 
ers and their supplies. Where the hired help was given board and 
lodging by the farmer, the farmer’s estimate of the value of such 
accommodation was added as a part of the labor cost. These esti- 
mates were checked carefully by the agents of the commission and 
where they were evidently out of line adjustments were made. 
The wages allowed the farmer or operator do not include remu- 
neration for management or supervision, but merely the equivalent 
of what would have been paid the laborer had the grower hired the 
manual labor done. 
In ascertaining the cost of labor per hour, 10 hours were considered a 
working day, and 25 working days were considered a month, or 3,000 
working hours a year per man. The hours per day as ascertained 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 experiment stations.!® The 
investigations made by these agencies show this to be about the 
number of hours and davs actually worked on farms of such char- 
acter. 
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- 
ery, 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. 
10 See T'ables 685 and 586 in the 1922 Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture.