Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-08
The Cost of Producing Bright
Tobacco


Many of our Georgia farmers are
engaged in the cultivation Of bright
tobacco. 1t is a crop of considerable
promise provided it is grown on the
right type of land and the proper
degree of skill and intelligence is
exercised in it's cultivation. 1t is
easy to see from the figures which
follow that one can readily lose
money in the cultivation of this crop.
1t Is important, therefore, that ev-
cry cost factor be taken into consid-
GRAFTON and studied carefully. 1t is
necessary to the welfare of the farm
er who is growing bright tobacco
that he exercises the utmost econ
omy in regard to the management of
the crop so as to keep his costs at
minimum, and thereby insure a
reasonable increment on his invest
ment
The cost survey in question was
made by two of the experts employ
ed by the Georgia State College of
Agriculture, Mr.. E. c. Westbrook,
4 farm management specialist, and
Mr.. DeForest Hungerford, scientific
assistant in farm management.
These figures may, therefore, be re-
+garded as furnishing information of
.as reliable a character as we can
hope to gather together under exist
ing circumstances.
On twenty farms the cost of pro-
ducing bright tobacco was $500 or
less per acre, while on ten farms
the cost was over 5000 per acre.
Forty-three farmers produced it at
from SOL to S120, and forty-four
farsY 1oAx
and $40. These last two groups
comprise together eighty-seven
farms, which happen to be exactly
half of the total number Of farms
studied. Thirty-four farmers costs
ranged from $140 to $780, sixteen
from $161 to $50, and seven from
j $181 to 5000. Since man labor makes
up 81 per cent of the total cost, 1t
is to be expected that the higher
costs per acre would be found on
farms using the most man labor. In
fact, the data shows that the cost
per acre varies directly with the
amount of man labor used.
The amount of horse labor used
is closely associated with the amount
of man labor. Those groups Of farms
using the larger amount Of man Ia
Dor also used larger amounts Of
horse labor.
There is not a very close correla
ton between the use Of fertilizer
and cost per acre, but those farm
ers having the lower acre cost used
less fertilizer than those having
higher costs with the exception Of
the group whose costs were between
$1S1 and $500.
The land rent and other costs fluc-
tuate somewhat in the different
groups, but these items are too
small to effect materially the rele-
tive total costs.
The cost per pound is important
from the standpoint of profits since
tobacco is sold by the pound, and
if the farmer expects to stay in the
business, he must produce his crop
for less than the market price.
Yield per acre appears to be the
dominating factor. The higher yields
\ were obtained at a lower cost per
'spound. The thirty-six farmers
! whose costs averaged 1875 cents per
pound attained an average Of S65
pounds per acre. while at the other
extreme the ninteen whose costs
averaged forty-five cents per pound
obtained only 358 pounds per acre
There was little variation in the
average selling price Of tobacco in
the different groups. This indicates
that one Of the essentials to profit
able tobacco production is to secure
a good yield. 1t is an interesting
fact that the higher yields were oh
tanned with less expenditure of both
man labor and mule labor. This is
probably due to the inexperience Of
many of the growers who were I'M
able to use their labor efficiently.
The more experienced growers got
better yields by wise selection of
land and good management.
Large receipts per acre are essen
/tial to success in tobacco growing
because the large amount Of labor
irequired in producing the crop pre-
vents m l from handling a large
Ncreage profitably. Receipts per
aere are governed by both yield and
the quality of the crop A large
yield of poor quality tobacco is often
produced at loss to the grower,