The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1917-02-08
ANALYZlNG FARM BUSINESS

That the farmers of the country are
adopting more and more the practice
of analysing their business carefully
and using this analysis in keeping
books was brought out recently in the
hearings on the agricultural appropria-.
ton bill before the committee on agi-
culture appropriation bill before the
committee on agriculture of the house
OF representatives. The Office of farm
management Of the United States de-
partment of agriculture has provided
in Farmers Bulletin No. 661 blanks
for use in Analysing a farm business
in such way that the farmer can
readily ascertain the various sources
from which he derives his income. the
ways in which he spends his money.
the total income from the farm, and
the amount which should be charged
Off for interest on his investment.
County agents, it was said, make
much use of this bulletin. They take
1t to the farmer, sit down with him,
and work out with him a complete an
alysis of his business, so that he is
able to see exactly in what respects
he is losing money and in what re-
spects he is making it. Furthermore,
these blanks are frequently used when
farmers write to the department for
advice and assistance. In such cases
1t Is customary to send the inquirer
the bulletin, with the request for him
to analyze his business with it's aid.
the information thus obtained is COM
pared with similar information on file
In the department and the specialists
IN the Office of farm management are
thus enabled to point out the mistakes
Wnlcn are causing trouble in any one
lndlVldual case. It may be found for
example, that dairyman is spending
from three to four times as much
money for labor as other farmers con-
duuctlng business on similar scale.
TO secure the necessary data that
enable the department to determine
whether or not a farmer is conducting
his business as efficiently in any one
respect as he should, extensive farm
surveys are made in representative To-
calities. A group of from 500 to 700
contiguous farms is selected, and de-
tailed analysis Of the business of each
one OF these made by trained experts.
Ihey ascertain what the investment is,
now much Of 1t is in land and build
1ngs, and how much in live stock, ma
chinery, feed, supplies, etc. The pro-
duct1on of the farm in crops and live
stock Is next studied, and the returns
from the sales of all products ascer-
tanned. The survey also includes an
estimate of the amount of depreciation
OF the buildings, work stock, machin-
cry, etc., on the farm. With this infor-
nation it is possible to determine ap-
proximately what the average farmer
in that section is doing, and when this
average is compared with individual
cases it is possible to throw light on
why the prosperous farmer is succeed
ing and why his less fortunate neigh
Dor is not.
Approximately one-third of the farm
ers who have been induced to analyze
their business in this way, it is said,
are now keeping books. Hitherto,
many farmers have been discouraged
from this by the apparent completely
or the systems employed. By simpli-
Tying these systems so that the farmer
can tell what the figures are all about
and how to use them, the department
Is greatly increasing the amount Of
bookkeeping being done on the farms
of the country.