The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-04-22
The Cost Of Producing Wheat
Some Facts Of Interest Concerning the Growth of This
Important Crop-How the Soil Il Robbed

This morning saw an article II
the paper giving the cost of the pro
duction of wheat as $1.19 per bushel
Now l would like to ask; how many
students know anything about the
cost of the different farm products.
take it from your silence that none
have very much of an idea Of this
the most important factor in all pro.
duction. II you do not know the cost
how are you going to set the selling
price?
l believe that this morning can
we'll be spent in considering some
of the principles which should gov
ern the selling price of grain. Even
when you know the exact cost of Ia
Dor entering into this consideration
you haven't begun to see the most
serious factor.
Every time you sell a pound Of
grain you are selling fertility from
your farm and reducing its produc-
tive capacity. If you lived in the
older and run down parts of the
country you would never seed
wheat without first using some COM
mercial fertilizer. The, elements Of
fertility which they buy are nitro
gen. potash and phosphric acid.
These are the first to be reduced in
the soil and probably the most i'm
portant in plant production.
When the Lord made these broad
prairies He stocked the soil with an
of fertility. Yet men can
ruin its productive capacity in COM
paratiyely few years. Do you not
think that the farmer should receive
just compensation for the fertility
that he sells as we'll as for his L.
Dor! Every bushel of wheat con-
tains 1.42 pounds Of nitrogen, 4
pounds of potash and .53 pounds Of
acid. These have de-
finite market value. The eastern
farmer pays for each pound Of nitro
gen tic, for each pound Of potash
Sc, and &c for every pound Of phos-
phoric acid. This gives every bushel
Of wheat an actual value Of $1.28 for
point carefully. The mine owner
finds these substances stored up in
the Chile salt peter bers In the pot
ash beds and in other places a. nat
ural resources, he sells them to the
farmer for their real value plus the
cost of labor Are you going to con-
tinue to give them away for nothing !?
Snyder OF the Minnesota station
states that for every pound of nitro
gen removed in crops Z pounds are
lost in other ways. Now, were 1t not
for the minute organisms in the soil
which we will call germs not one
could afford, this immense loss. This
gives an additional cost, loss we
will call it, of 31-l9 for every bushel
Of wheat grown When you consider
this what do you think of the cost
Of a bushel of wheat? Remember
we have not spoken Of cost Of la
Dor required.
Another query why do We hear
so much complaint in marketing
grain, and one:
Student: Unjust dockage.
Student: We have nothing to say
Of the price we are to receive. When
we sell our wheat we ask the buyer
how much he will give, then we go
over to the store and ask how much
they will take for the goods we
want
Student: We have. to give away
our screenings and dockage and pay
the freight on it. besides
Have any of you thought Of rem
edy for these conditions, which you
consider the unjust to the grain
growers?
Ans. Farmers, elevators and Or
ganizatiOn.
Every farmer should keep exact
accounts so that he would know just
what a fair compensation would be.
All right; let's consider the dock
age tlrst. Say that North Dakota
produces annually 100000 bushel
of wheat, and that the average dock
age is pounds, per bushel. That
means 21O,oOO,00s pounds Of dockage
for the wheat crop if it we're all
sold, as it is not, we will not con-
slider the fax and other crops.
In many parts of the state they
now have a good market for screen
ings, and in some places have been
told that they sell for as high as
$4,000 per ton. Taking the average
value as $15.00 the dockage and
screenings would have an actual
market yaaue Of $1,575,000. Now as
&ho eor,nar hos RI nov tho ;froipht