The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1922-06-09
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

The matter of figuring the accurate
cost OF producing tobacco on Wisconsin
| farms from year 30 year will be of high
importance to the growers as they as
sumo full control, not only of produc-
tion, but of the entire line of the pro-
duet from field to manufacturer. The
federal department of agriculture, sup
ported by the agricultural colleges and
the state crop reporting service, has
estimates, more or less correct, that
serve as a guide in establishing values
and prices. This service could be of
much greater value if it were more ac-
curate. Careful bookkeeping has not
yet become universal among farmers.
A good deal of guesswork is induIged
in. 1t is true that since the war and
the passage of the income tax law the
farmers are keeping better track of in
come and expenditures than they did
before, but a businesslike method of
accounting is yet the exception rather
than the rule
As.the cooperative movement among
farmers takes hold, and as the farmer
is taking over also the distribution of
his products, in other words, becoming
producer, businessman and capitalist
rolled into OF !, the need of keeping
systematic accounts will be more and
| more felt.
Here is the tobacco grower, for in
stance. How many growers know from
year to year with any approximate ac-
curacy what the tobacco delivered at
the warehouse costs per pound? And
still this is an important consideration
in fixing the price at which it must sell
to return the grower profit
The interest on the value of an acre
of land, the cost of every item from
| the buying of the seed to the delivery
| Of the bundles to the warehouse door
hired or own labor, fertilizer, machin-
cry, insurance, cost of hauling to mar
ket-every item should be charged up
against the acres. On the basis of that
sort of cost charges the grower would
the tobacco, and when the crop is
weighed up on the farm or in the ware
house the cost per pound could be easily
found. The cost will vary from year
to year, as it will vary on different
farms. The profit will depend on the
| difference between the cost of produc-
tion and the sales price. To Keep down
| the cost of production TO minimum,
and at the same time reach the maxi
| mum of volume and quality, must be
the goal for which the grower is striv-
| ing. That is the standard of efficiency.
To be able to work intelligently toward
| this end one must know the cost of
every step, and this can be known only
! by careful accounting together with
efficient expenditure of energy and full
knowledge of the requirements for
every process entering into the produc-
| tion of tobacco.
The idea is not to advise that the
growers should try to figure the cost Of
production as high as possible : that is
not efficiency; but rather on an abso-
lutely correct basis of figuring of costs
to find out from year to year at what
minimum cost per pound high quality
of leaf can be produced.
| Why not try it; try it this. year, next
year and the year after. In five year
period the Wisconsin tobacco grower
would be able to determine his aver
| ages; he would know to a certainty
what it costs per pound to produce to-
bacco. and this would go good ways
toward determining the profit or loss
at which the tobacco culture of the
state is carried on. It would not only
| be matter of personal satisfaction to
know, but of great public interest in
| the economy of this particular field of
| agricultural endeavor. With more
farmers in business, there should be
| more business in farming.
/ Discussing the farmers tobacco pool
ing organization in Tobacco Leaf, S. A.
B. makes the following observations
relative to the Connecticut situation:
| If this association is formed, it is as
sumed that Hartford would be the CEN
trail market, that samples of Connecti-
| cut Broadleaf and Havana Seed tobacco
would be displayed here on given dates
when tobacco manufacturers would ap-
pear and make their purchases by sam
pie, and the movement of the crop
would be dependent on the orders re-
ceived.
| The contracts, based on similar agree
ments in force elsewhere, have been
carefully drawn to suit local require
ments and they meet the approval of
practically all students of the tobacco
situation. Even some tobacco dealers,
whose status will be changed if this as
sociation becomes a reality, have ex-
pressed themselves in favor of such a
stabilizing of the industry. Others, it
should be said, are naturally opposed.
They fcresee that their packing and