CAPITAL AND CAPITAL CHARGES: IDAHO, BY AREAS
TABLE 32.— Average market value of the land upon which sugar beets were grown
SUMMARY FOR IDAHO AND ANALYSIS BY AREAS, 1921, 1922, AND 1923
[Per acrel
Area
Idabo...... ...___...
Twin Falls. cee omaamecae.
Blackfoot...
1921
$228
256
206
| 3-year
1922 wn
$196
220
177
$1RF
$196
221
178
+0
50
Note.—The values of sugar-beet land shown here for 1922 are the estimates of the farmers of the market
values of the land upon which were grown their 1922 crops of beets. While in the field, the agents of the
Tariff Commission checked these farmers’ estimates against actual sale values in the respective localities,
and against the values given by prominent local men other than the farmers themselves, such as the county
tax officials, bankers, real-estate dealers, county agricultural agents, and officials of the various agricultural
colleges, particularly professors of agricultural economics and farm management, and adjustments were
made where the values were evidently out of line.
The 1921 and 1923 values were obtained by adjusting the 1922 values of sugar-beet land, as shown in the
table, on the basis of the variation in values of ‘good plow lands,” as shown in the Yearbooks of the U. S.
Department of Agriculture. For example: The values of “good plow lands” in Idaho were reported as
16.4 per cent greater in 1921 than in 1922 and 15.5 per cent less in 1923 than in 1922. Consequently, to obtain
the 1921 and 1923 values, the 1922 values as obtained in the field investigation were increased in the
one case by 16.4 per cent and reduced in the other by 15.5 per cent. The same method and percentages
were used in determining the 1921 and 1923 values for the individual areas investicated in Idaho.
TaBLE 33.—Average value of other capital used in sugar-beet production
SUMMARY FOR IDAHO AND ANALYSIS BY AREAS. 1922
Average
value of
capital,
other than
land, used
in sugar-
beet pro-
luction in
1922
[daho....__.__.
Twin Falls. cao cmcccmmmem mm o-
Blackfoot =. = __.
Per acre
$36
36
36
Nore.—Other capital includes only that part of the total value of work horses and equipment allocated
to the sugar-beet crop, plus $3.33 an acre ($10 an acre for four months’ time) for the advances of the sugar
companies for the payment of contract labor. Therefore the full value of all work horses and equipment
ased in sugar-beet production is not included in ‘“‘other capital.” The following examples make this point
clear: If two teams worth $400 were used in the production of sugar beets for but one-half of the total time
they worked on the farm during the year, the other one-half time being used in the production of corn, hay,
beans, potatoes, etc., only one-half of the costs of these horses was charged to beets, and only $200 shown as
capital employed in sugar-beet production. Likewise, if only 50 per cent of the annual cost of repairs and
depreciation on a wagon valued at $100 is chargeable to sugar-beet production, then onlv $50 is included as
“other capital’’ employed in sugar-beet production.
Over 80 per cent of the handwork of blocking, thinning, and hoeing required in the production of the sugar-
beet crop is done by contract laborers, who are paid so much an acre for doing the work. In a large per-
centage of cases the sugar companies advance the money for the payment of these laborers as each operation
is completed, In practically all cases where such advances are made the farmers pay the beet-sugar com-
panies interest on such loans from the time they are made until the beets are harvested, when the amount
of the loan plus the interest is deducted from the farmer’s beet check.
Preliminary tabulations of the sugar-beet cost data in the possession of the commission showed that these
advances, where made, averaged $10 an acre and ran on an average for a period of about four months, which
is equal in capital value to $3.33 an acre for a year. Consequently $3.33 an acre is shown as a part of the
capital used in the production of sugar beets.
The same value of other capital was used for 1921 and 1923 as for 1922,
