REPORT ON THE FARMERS’ COSTS OF PRODUCTION OF SUGAR 
BEETS IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE YEARS 1921, 1922, AND 
1923 
HISTORY OF THE INVESTIGATION 
On December 19, 1922, two months after the tariff act of 1922 
became effective, the Mountain States Beet Growers’ Association, 
representing the sugar-beet producers of Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, 
and Wyoming, made formal request to the Tariff Commission 
for an investigation of the costs, returns, and economic conditions 
in the sugar-beet industry. Their request was vigorously supported 
by the sugar-beet producers of other States. 
Because of the significance of sugar-beet production in the sugar 
industry of the United States, the commission, on August 7, 1923, 
voted: 
* that an investigation under the general powers of the commission is 
hereby instituted on the cost of production of sugar beets; that the cooperation 
of the Department of Agriculture in such investigation is invited; and that the 
advisory board be directed to draft a plan for the conduct of the investigation, 
f practicable, in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture. 
In accordance with this action the advisory board submitted plans 
for the investigation which were approved by the commission on 
August 14, 1923, and this report represents in part the results of that 
investigation. 
The direct field investigation of farm costs was begun on Sep- 
tember 4, 1923, at Owosso, Mich., and was completed at Santa Ana, 
Calif., four months later, January 4, 1924. The investigation has 
required about 4,200 days of man labor, 1,270 days of field work in 
collecting the data from the farmers, and 2,930 days devoted to 
calculations and tabulations. In all, 78 persons, excluding the farm- 
ers who gave information on their costs and returns, have taken 
part in the investigation—20 in the field and 58 in the office. The 20 
field agents traveled a total of about 86,000 miles by train and in the 
sourse of the investigation covered thoroughly by automobile the 
sugar-beet producing districts in the nine States investigated. 
be 
METHOD OF INVESTIGATION 
The survey method was used in this investigation, that being a 
renerally accepted and appropriate method of obtaining the produc- 
bon costs of an agricultural product. Trained agriculturists and cost 
accountants familiar with agricultural costs and farm practice in 
producing sugar beets and supplied with cost schedules,’ visited the 
srowers on their farms and there obtained the necessary data for 
determining costs. 
Detailed data for 1922 —At the time the investigation was ordered 
the greater part of the 1923 crop of sugar beets had not been har- 
vested. Since the commission desired data for the most recently 
harvested crop, detailed costs were obtained for the 1922 production. 
See appendix for form of schedule used.