The Ordway new era., 1921-03-04
County Agent
Tells Of Benefit
By r. H. MILLER
ElPaso County Agent.

How can the producer get more
dollars for his crop and the consumer
more crop for his dollar?
cost of Production, Plus Reasonable
Profit.
No fair-minded person will take
issue with the man who maintains
that nc is entitled ito prices that will
,snresent his cost of production, AID
a reasonable profit. But much as
everybody would like to see that
condition, it will never prevail, with
regard to any crop, or any product VI
eny kind, permanently. Periods OF
profitable production, and of produs-
,.3n at loss, are just as sure to -
tarnate as night is to follow day.
This is SO easily illustrated that tho
utter futility of hoping to fix pricsS
80 as to permanently insure profits
would seem clear to all.
Take, for instance, rye; crop not
universally grown but one that couil
be very nearly so. If all who plant
rye were sure of always making
pruftr the acreage of rye would IN
crease by leaps and bounds, unll
eventually everybody would be grow
ing tina, crop. The result would be
that the guaranty could not be made
good by all the power on earth, VIII lie
the entire crop-balance would be
overturned.
The same thing would hold good
with any other crop that could 90
generally grown. 1t Is even true of
most specialized crops, as was shown
when, tile government of Brazil near
ly went broke in the ''valorization of
coffee" undertaking.
Likewise, any crop that does not
show profit often enough to make
MARKS on the right side of the ledger
on an. average, disappears from the
rotation. 1t has to.
Man-n,ade laws and plans are Ut
terry rnpotent in the face of natural
economic laws, No occupation of man
can ever be stabilized on Il uniformly
profitable basis, or so fortified tnat
those who are engaged in it are free
from future worry. Occasionally
losses are inevitable III any business,
but hecd not discourage anybody. 1t
is the average that counts.
Organized effort is highly desira-
BILE, and may even De imperative out
after all the matter OF success or faii-
ure y il continue to be determined
by the individual himself.
How Fair Prices May Be Second.
If a farmer is to command fair
prices" for his products he must bear
in nIind certain fundamental rules of
the game:
|. know your costs. Unless you
inow what your products cost you,
you can't tell what to produce in or
DIR 70 secure profitable prices anl'
YOU will not have the evidence you
reed in collective bar Igeining.
2. Know your market A knowI-
ii. ..tt Il Il
determine how to sell TO advantage
3. Keep your selling problem
clearly in mind when planning your
produo ton.
4. Learn to cooperate in mai
keti.4g your products, and in buying
YOU aupplies.
5. Live up to the standard your
income justifies.
6. Seek some other occupation If
you can't make a decent living farm
ing and quit producing at a loss.
Fair Prices.
Fair prices for farm products are
prices such that farmers, everything
considered, will receive an average
annual return over period of
years for their skill, energy, and cap
ital, as large as that of the people
who consume farm products and who
produce the things which the farmer
buys l
Assuming Ideal Conditions.
National welfare demands that ag-
riculture. along with mining, manu-
featuring, and other great divisions
OF enterprise, shall receive fair prices
IN the long run.
In reaching out toward this goal
we, as farmers, should lay stress on
organization, and especially ct this
time on far-sighlted, capable leader
snip such as the Farm Bureau.
We must know costs OF production.
without this it is hard to tell what
Things pay us best to produce; and
costs are needed as evidence in col