The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-01-08
Figuring Costs

Do you know what it costs you to produce your crops? If so, you be- long to d class of farmers which is decidedly limited in numbers, Nsays Tractor Farming.
 few months ago when the gov ernment wished to ascertain the actual cost of producing farm crops, an ef. fort was made to obtain informa ton
 from farmers as to just how much it actually cost them to grow their prod ucts. This investigation brought be-
 fore the public fact which had previ- ously been known only by those en- saged in agricultural studies, viz:
 that a very small fraction of per cent of the farmers of the country
 have any definite i1ea of What il ac-
 tually costs them to produce the crops and livestock which ,sey place on the
 market.
 4 few years ago a great many small business men were operating in just
 such haphazard manner. They did
 rot know what it was costing them to carry on their business. They knew what they paid for certain article and the price they received but they did not know what it cost thenF to handle il. Very often an article was handled in considerable quantities at an actual loss and this loss Was made up by the profits from other articles which returned a profit.
 Most farmers are today in the same position. They know in a general way the actual cash expense of the differ ent crops they grow. that is, what is paid for seed, fertilizer, spray ma terial or other cash expenses, but 1 they do not have any definite idea as | to the amount and value of the work done on each crop. For this reason | it is not at all infreQuent to find farms l where one crop is being grown at an
 actual loss when the value of the labor which is expended upon it is 1 taken into account. At the same time
 other crops which are paying re-
 turn for the labor involved in their
 production must also offset the loss
 incurred in the growing of the un- | profita ble crop.
 There is no question but that it pays | a farmer to keep record of his farm
 business. Not only would it have l teen to the advantas;e of the farmers | of this country to have been able to 1 lay before the government officials actual figures showing how much if 1 cost them to produce crops. in order l that prices could have been fixed at a l figure which would have returned l them reasonable profit, but such rec | ords also have numerous other ad- l vantages, most of win ,h are even more l direct.
 For one thing a record of the labor 1 expended in growing the different crops a farm. together with other expenses involved show the compara' I tive returns per hour of labor for each l of the different crops. With this ! known farmer can plan a crop TO- ! tation which will yield a maximum re- ] turn for the labor expended. He can either stop raising an unprofitable
 crop entirely or reduce it's acreage in ] order to increase that of a more profit l able crop.
 1 Under the present tax law. which ] makes 1t necessary for most farmers l to render a. return to the government 1 of their annual incomes, some sort of I records are almost essential. Ut is very l little more work to keep a good set of farm records than to keep poor ones. l There have been number of very 1 simple but effective systems of farm 1 accounts devised. Most county agri- 1 cultural agents are familiar with these l various systems and can assist a l farmer in getting started. It requires lonly a few minutes each day to keen 1 such accounts and their value will in
 almost cverv case Re many times greater than the slight time and ex- l rense Involved
 I Now is the time to prepare to keen records for 1920.