The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 27, 1917, Page 13

eat Costs $24.4 er Acre Farm Run Like a Bank Furnishes Accurate Figures —Some Other 1917 Data NEW view of what farming means, has no doubt been brought- home to thousands of farmers all over the country by looking over the farm costs brought out by fixing the wheat prices of 1917. Thousands of these farmers will look for dozens of items that they never thought worth while before. When they have anything to sell they will think back awhile and remember just what went into its pro- duction. Very few if any of them will be satisfied with a covers the immediate cash outlay which they made when they completed production., The expenses that never end will be taken into consideration. The right to wages of their wives and children whose unpaid labor takes the place of what would otherwise have to be paid labor, will be realized. The un- expected expenses, such as broken parts of machinery, a half day off to drive to town and replace them and taxes, interest, feed each apportioned to the particular products of the farm, will go into the sum total. In closing a series of three articles on this subject, the Leader -herewith presents some actual costs of farmers, ) who have kept a pretty clear idea of their condition. Some of these do not take everything into consideration. The exact cost of some items may vary in different communities, but the farm- ers have the right idea. FIGURES FROM A HIGHLY EFFICIENT FARM Part of the costs here given are those obtained from an accurate abstract from the books of Cloverlea farm in Traill county, North Dakota. This is one of the moderately big farms of North Dakota,” and for 25 years it has .been operated as carefully as a bank. It may be said that it is also a paying farm—but it has paid only because it has been carefully managed, and the operators have taken a-long look ahead. On this farm things are planned for years in advance, such for instance as the crop rotation, and conferences be- tween the owner and the superintend- ent decide just what shall be done with each particular field. are few farms anywhere that have such continuous and reliable data upon which to call for an insight into the real facts about farming ,as this one. ‘When the price-fixing committee was considering the. price of wheat at ‘Washington, this was .one of many farms to supply accurate facts, and in his address before the. producers and consumers’ conference in.:Fargo, Sep- tember 17, Dr..E. F..Ladd, of the price- fixing commission, quoted freely - from the figures supplied by Cloverlea farm. The tables shown for Cloverlea farm are for 1216 acres planted to spring wheat for 1916 and 1917. Although not all of this land was planted to wheat, the cost of preparing it was the same for the rye and flax planted, as for the wheat. Out of a total of 1216 acres 778 was planted to wheat, the rest be- ing sown to flax, rye and clover. As the cost of preparing the 200 acres used for clover, was only one-half the cost of preparing for flax, rye and wheat, this 200 acres is reduced to 100, and the tables are therefore based on 1116 instead of 1216 acres. DR. LADD EMPHASIZES SOME BIG ITEMS On. this basis, 1116 ‘acres planted to wheat, is was found that it cost this highly efficient farm'$22.74 per acre to ' produce last year's crop of wheat. This was after $2,722.27 had been deducted for cattle and sheep. In other words it cost actually $25,387 to produce 1116 acres of spring wheat last year in the Red River valley. Costs have increased 15 per cent this year: over those of last year and so $1.,67 per acre was added to these costs, giving a cost of $24.41 per acre for producing spring wheat this yéar. In finding this cost, the farm did not figure anything for time and superin- tendence of the owner, although he was there and devoted his time to this work, Cost of the regular superin- tendant, however, is included. The facts here shown, which are made clear in an accompanying table were taken from the books and were sworn to by Datus C. Smith, owner of Cloverlea farm, before a notary public. - In the course of the address in which Dr. Ladd presented these and masses of other figures Dr. Ladd said: “In calculating profits of the farm, a review of the information available shows that the same method is not em- price that merely - Perhaps there ployed on the farm as is employed in any one of the great industries, and that the farmer neglects to take into consideration many factors in the way of intangible costs that are not over- looked in a well organized business; that is, some of the principal factors that may be considered intangible costs entering into the production of wheat are as follows: “Crop rotation; summer fallow; abandonment of areas sown; insur- ance against hail, floods, and cyclones; losses from floods, drouths, insects and plant diseases (such as rust in 1916); general overhead expense, such as up- keep of animals, machinery and build- ings; and last, cost of raw materials.” FARMERS LOSE MONEY ON 14,500,000 ACRES Dr. Ladd then quotes reports and figures showing that wheat can not be grown successfully on the same la,nd year after year, which makes rotation necessary, but that very often the al- ternating crops are grown at an actual loss so far as their own market value is concerned, and are merely used to put the ground in good condition for growing the wheat crop, which is the one from which profit is~expected. Dr, Ladd also emphasized the fact, not generally known to readers of gov- ernment reports, that all estimates of yields and costs appearing in govern- ment reports are based upon the acre- age harvested, not upon the acreage sown. Figures which the ‘price -fixing committee obtamed from the deparl- ment: of agriculture, showed that: there is a tremendous area sown every. year in the United States that is:' never harvested, another item which many. individual farmers fail to take into. ac- .count when giving their yield per acre, and their costs. They should take ac- count of all that was sown, for it cost just as much to sow it as though it had produced a crop. NOTE FARM COSTS SHOWN IN TABLES The department of agriculture esti- mated the losses to farmers in 1917 from abandoned lands as follows: Cost of seed used, $2.50 per acre; cost of seeding, 50 cents per acre; unneces- sary preparation of land, $1:50 an acre, or a total of $4.50 an acre. As there are 14,600,000 acres of sown lands abandon- ed, the loss of $4.50 per acre on this totals $62,250,000. According to the September crop report there will be 663,000,000 bushels of wheat ha.rvested PAGE FOUBTEEN CASH DISBURSEMENTS ON CLOVERLEA FARM: January 1 to December 81, 1916. Manual labor (including engineer, blACKSMIth, €tC .veuuenernreeanenns .$.6,317.15 . House expenses for labor (mainly provisions) . seteassesaasseacanses 2,008.13 Livestock expenses (for horses and mules), bran OtCT IS . 622.49 Repairs of all kinds (mostly machinery parts) x 750.27 General expense (including fuel for tractors) . oo 2,362,523 Taxes for one year, paid February 17, 1916 ..... o aie 760.27 Interest on 1-4 section school land ............. S 253.92 Binding twine, 2500 pounds ....... 5 312.50 Fire insurance premium ............ Fxs 106.70 T$13,488.91 Charges off for depreciation (by same system as used for many years: Machinerys e e e T I s B ate ) Ve $851.27 Buildings .. 402.31 FeNCes 1ol h oo valih Saa Shsblare 3 fih seseeess 140.22 Horses and mules (51 head) SIS R N Y Sl VR ceese. 620,00 ——$ 2,013.80 Added for seed— - For convenience, assume that all. of . this acreage is in wheat, the ~labor cost on all being approximately the same except for the clover seed. That costs about one-half. So call that 100 acres—a total of 1116 acres in wheat instead of .the 1216 acres shown. 1674 bushels seed at $1.21 (inv. price. Jan. 1, 1916) ....... a¥ereteya e T Sievetersete 3 2,025.54 Add for extra cost of harvesting and :threshing 678 acres wheat not harvested, which cost would have been added had there been a crop, L e AR e AT St e e cemer el - iU S el Tty el 2,373.00 Interest on land and equipment and capital, 6 per cent on: $136,800, that 5 $60 per acre on 2280 acres in whole t‘arm Ne'oleraie ole 8 e e ale%e seeceesses.. 8,208.00 $28,109.28 DEDUCTIONS FOR CATTLE AND SHEEP Labor and board putting up hay for them Labor and board in winter and slight summer care ..$ 300.00 300.00 13% per cent of the total interest on investment chargeable to livestock . 1315 per cent hvestock " this year, 'and this loss’of $62,250,000 distributed over the 'whole amount harvested. comes to almost 10 cents per bushel. In the case of the Babcock. cost it ‘ will be seen that Mr. Babcock omitted some of the big overhead costs, board - for self and family, interest, taxes, in- surance,.and wages for themselves, His crop yielded $60.72 more than it actually cost to. put it in and this would pay wages of $5 a month for managing the place, taking the .risk etc. These tables together with those furnished by Cloverlea farm 'are worth studying. CROP ACREAGE FOR YEAR 1916 (measured land) Income producing grain lands: Wheat .....cccvveeensieneas..T78 acres Red Clover 8eed ceceesesssss.200 acres — Totul ..............._..,...1216 acres Pesveecsseastanneta, ; Maca.rom wheat .. ' Oats ..................... 1,108.08 ‘s and school land mterest also chargeable to A modern dairy barn where efficient methods, though costly, bring results, at the Chesbro Smith farm, near Fargo, N. D.- Above, an outside view show- ing silos. Below, interior showing the big bin on wheels from which feed is distributed. “___.» FIVE DOLLARS A MONTH Savage, Mont., Sept. 12, Editor Nonpartisan Leader: I am a member of the Nonpartisan league, and am sending you a list of the costs of my farming operations this summer, to help you in your worl, 1917, , Wish..you and the League all success ,in the world. Here are my figures: ACREAGE veei..n70 acres .30 acres -..10 acres COST OF THE CROP Flax -, _Plowing at $2.50 per a..$175.00 "Cost of seed .......... 140.00 " Seeding ........., . 35.00 Qutting ., .« 70.00 Shocking . .. 12,00 Stacking ... . 20.00 Threshing .......e..... 30.00 ‘Total cost for wheat. $482.00 $482.00 Plowing for flax ... ..$ 75.00 15 bushels of seed ..... 45.00 Seeding .........0000.. T.50 Total cost for flax...$127.50 Plowing for oats ......$ 25.00 Cutting ...eeencverenans 10'.00 127,50 Total cost for oats ..$ 55.00 55.00 ‘ Total cost all crops ....... .$ 664.50 INCOME FROM CROP = ‘Wheat, 377 bu. at $1.86.$701.22 Oats, 4 tons hay ...... 24.00 (no Pay for year's work..........$ 60.78 T. B. BABCOCK,