Farm profits and factors influencing farm profits on 370 potato farms in Monmouth County, New Jersey

Front matter

arm Profits and Factors Influencing Farm Profits on 370 Potato Farms in Monmouth County, New Jersey

A THESIS

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Introduction

The problem of measuring farm; efficiency is commanding increased attention as the value of land increases. It is essential that some method be found to modify farming operations in order that they may be adapted to our modern conditions. The increased value of farm lands and other equipment requires a much greater amount of capital, which, too, is an important factor in demanding more efficient use of land and equipment. A generation ago, when land was cheap and could be obtained by settling upon a tract and improving it for farming purposes, there was no incentive to economize in the use of land. Today land values have increased to such an extent that in restricted areas some types of farming are prohibited because of the heavy land rental. In short, nothing but intensive cropping is profitable, because large receipts per acre are necessary to return a profit for the cost of labor, fertilzer and rental. To a large extent this change of conditions is followed by a corresponding change of crops, but the proper adjustment, to be obtained accurately, must be found by careful and painstaking investiga-

Prepared April 20, 1916.

tioii. This is a repetition of history in old civiHzed countries. As population increases, greater production is needed, and land values rise with the increased value of products obtained from the land. A continuous change of land values always affects the adjustment and proper organization of the farm.

Still another factor, labor, has influenced farm operations. Throughout most farming regions the supply of labor is an important factor. That it is becoming more so each year is evidenced by the increased investment in labor-saving machinery.

With these twd factors changing, namely, land values and labor, both of which influence the profits of the farm to a great degree, the problems of farm organization, farm efficiency, the proper type of farming, the proper relation of live stock to the farm, and the proper relation of land, labor and capital, entail many difficulties in clearly isolating measurable factors which bear directly on farm profits. Through this great lack of so-called efficiency on farms, and through lack of means of measuring efficiency factors by agricultural educators, the business of farming and the people interested in farming have been severely criticised by men in other professions. However, conditions are not as bad as Avould appear to the man in another profession. His business is largely controlled through his own initiative, while the farmer is to a large extent dependent upon nature. Losses may result through causes wholly beyond the control of the farmer. In short, there are many more factors entering into the proper manipulation of the agricultural industry than in manufacturing enterprises. Until recently we have not appreciated the need of methods by which to- measure farm efficiency or to ascertain carefully what these factors are. However, with the readjustment of farming conditions, and the increased attention attracted by farming, this need is severely felt.

Efficiency engineers have reorganized many manufacturing establishments with very productive results. So, too, has the farmer reorganized his farm business by introducing new machinery and other labor-saving devices, and in some instances by increasing or decreasing the farm area or changing the type of farming to meet the current conditions. Moreover, many of these changes have come about by force of circumstances rather than through measurement of results to be obtained from such changes, or through the careful estimation of the need of them. This may have been no fault of the farm operator, for there was no definite information to guide him in making changes in his farming operations.

The object of this bulletin is not to present a general treatise on farm management or farming conditions, but it is to determine important factors which affect success and failure in- potato farming of Monmouth County, New Jersey. To a certain degree, the writer has attempted to determine the efficiency and measures of efficiency of a specialized type of farming, where potatoes are the principal crop. The conclusions reached should to a large extent be applicable to similar regions where potatoes are a specialized staple crop.

METHOD OF OBTAINING DATA AND INFORMATION

In gathering the data for this survey, each farmer was visited by a man who obtained the necessary information from him directly by personal interview. Far a type of farming consisting largely of potato growing, this is not as difficult as for a more diversified type. The major portion O'f receipts and expenses is in lump sums, a condition which simplifies tO' a large degree the work of taking the record. Each man was detailed to a defimite territory, and required to visit every farm, whether good or bad, prosperous or otherwise. The traveling was done by bicycles, which appear to furnish the most -efficient means where good roads pirevail. While a horse and buggy is commonly used in this work, it is not as efficient in covering distance and saving time as the bicycle.

All records were recopied on an office blank and checked several times to discover any possible errors and make the proper corrections.

It is essential that men who take records be quick to think, knoAv how to approach a farmer, and be familiar with farming conditions in the neighborhood. Occasionally it is necessary for a man to go back tp a farm and check over his record or correct some oversight.. Thus the accuracy of survey work and survey records depends in no small degree on the men who do the work.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE POTATO INDUSTRY IN MONMOUTH

COUNTY AND ITS RELATION TO THE DEVELOPMENT

OF OTHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS

Monmouth County is considered among the most prosperous counties in the United States. Since the early history of its agriculture it was always regarded as a prosperous and flourishing farming region. According to the United State Census Reports, we find the development of the potato industry from 1840 up to the present time as given in Table I.

Table I. — Production of Potatoes, Rye and Corn in Monmouth County, New

Potatoes. Rye, Com.

Year. bu. bu. bu.

For the entire period potatoes have been crowding the other crops. Hence the only two staple cash crops that have increased in quantity to any appreciable extent through this whole period are rye and corn. The production of wheat has increased from the 1840 period, but appreciably decreased from the 1850 period. Between 1840 and 1850 potatoes made a remarkable increase. The same is again shown between 1900 and 1910. The yield for 19 10, as given by the census, is 128 bushels per acre, which, if compared to- our survey results, is quite low. The average yield by the survey was 83 barrels, or 228 bushels, per acre, almost double that shown by the 1910 census report. This is in all probability due tO' the climatic conditions of the year of 1909 for potato production. The season was hot and dry, circumstances which depressed the potato^ yield for the State very markedly. Therefore, the census does not show the representative potato production for the county, since the year 1909 furnished abnormal climatic conditions with respect to potato growing.

The total production of potatoes from these 370 potato farms alone, 'in 1914, was 2,207,375 bushels, or 802.682 barrels. Therefore, it would be a conservative estimate to place the present production of the county at 4,000,000 bushels. Around the Freehold district, potatoes are by far the dominating crop for most of the farmers, and other crops and stock are sacrificed to devote most of the energies and time to potatoes. In the eastern part of the county trucking and dairying are quite prominent, but the potato still remains important as a cash crop, though no longer the major source of income. In the western part of the county potatoes are combined with more farm stock, including hogs and dairy cows. This necessitates larger areas of corn, rye and hay. Here the soils become too heavy for the most profitable production. The heavy soil conditions increase the cost of tillage, as well as decrease the acre yields. In the early history of the county cows, hogs and sheep were prominent in the farmers' business, but now this live stock has been sacrificed in many cases for the potato. The census of 1840 reports 19,592 head of cattle and 23,241 hogs. In 1910, 9,256 dairy cows and 14,132 hogs "are reported; sheep have decreased in number from 13,696 in 1850 to 1,333 in 1910, while during the survey of 1914 less than 100 sheep were found. In short, we find that in this county's earlier history potatoes were grown rather freely, but the greatest and most rapid development has come about within the last fifteen years. From 1900 to 1910 we find an increase from 926,035 bushels to 1,893,523 bushels, and 1914 and 191 5 to approximately 4,000,000 bushels. The area devoted to potato growing increased in 1900 to 19 10 from 8,910 to 14,784 acres, VN^hile in 1914 there were 9,671 acres of potatoes on 370 potato farms alone. Evidently, the industry has not yet reached its highest limit, for this is approximately one-third of the total crop acres on the farms, and later data will throw further light on the efiect of increasing this acreage to 50 or 75 per cent, of the farm crop area. Whether potatoes will in the near future give way to another crop is doubtful, since when raised on the intensive scale, they can successfull^^ compete with other staple truck crops. If land is selected which is best adapted to potato culture, nothing short of disease or extreme market fluctuation is likely to decrease the importance of this crop in the county.

LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION OF MONMOUTH COUNTY POTATO AREA

The Freehold area, which is the center of the potato region in the county, is 42 miles from New York City, 30 miles from Trenton and 70 miles from Philadelphia. From Freehold as a center, the area in which potatoes predominate reaches north about six miles tO' Robertsville, thence the boundary extendsnortheast, passing within one mile south of Morganville, and' continuing northeast to about one mile north of Crawford's

Corners. Tlie eastern boimdary extends east almost to Lincroft, Tinton Falls, Scobe3rville and Colts Neck. The southern boundary lies about three miles south of Freehold and extends from the headwaters of the M'anasquan River, west through Smithburg, and thence northwest to Bergen's Mills. The line from this point runs approximately northeast to Robertsville, including Englishtown and Tennent in the area.

MONMOUTH

COUJJTY

Oil

- rmmtmp urn

Fig. 1. — IViap of Monmouth County, New Jersey, Showing Potato Area Included by this Survey.

This whole area is largely overlaid with Collington, Sassafras and Colts Neck soils. The topography is level to gently rolling, with good drainage. The section is well equipped with railroad shipping stations, facilities which help to make this industry possible. The Freehold branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey leads from Freehold north through Morganville. Farmers in the eastern section of this area can reach the Red Bank branch of the New Jersey Central, while the northeastern portion is within reach of the New York and Long Branch Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad enters Freehold from the southeast and continues in a northwesterly direction through Tennent. With the exception of a small section around Colts Neck, most of this area is within four miles or less of a railroad. This is important for an industry requiring- such a large amount of hauling in a comparatively short time. The roads of this area, some of which are macadam, are usually good. This enables the potato growers to haul heavy loads, and thus economize in marketing their product. The area is thus with a combination of soils, railroad facilities, and improved dirt and macadam roads, which fits it admirably to intensive and extensive potato culture. Other parts of the county have one or two of these requirements, such a^-railroads and dirt roads, or soils and good dirt roads, but the third factor is missing. The other types of soil are not so well adapted to the production of the crop, and where they prevail, either trucking, dairying or more general farming is substituted for this industry.

SOILS

The soils of this potato area, as mapped by the Geological Survey oi New Jersey and the U. S. Department of Agriculture,^ consist of unconsolidated and nearly horizontal beds of greensand marl, clay, sandy clay, and gravel. This material has been modified by the elements, forming soils that are easily tilled and light in texture, with the light loams, sandy loams, and loamy sands predominating. The Sassafras series has a light brown to yellowish color, with sub-soil of bright yellow to reddish yellow color. The upper sub-soil may be heavier than the surface soils, but the lower surface soils are usually lighter, grading into sand or gTavel. This usually helps to insure good drainage.

The Colli.ngton soils have a brown to a reddish brown surface, and a yellowish brown-yellow or greenish yellow upper sub-soil, changing to a dark green or olive green sub-soil of the heavier members. These soils are derived from' greensand deposits made along the Coastal Plain Province.

The Colts Neck series shows a brownish red to dark red colored surface soil and a deep or bright red colored sub-soil. The sub-soil is light in texture. O'f the three series, Colts Neck is not so well adapted to potato production as are the Sassafras and Collington. Its soils are inclined to be more droughty, and are better adapted to the early truck crops, while the high content of iron makes a rough potato skin. All these soils are easily tilled, and lend themselves well to successive growing of

*U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Soils, Advance Sheets, Field Operations, 1913.

a cultivated crop, such as potatoes, as long as the organic matter is maintained through the use of cover crops. In fact, some of these soils are so light that it is necessary to have a growing crop upon them in the form of a cover crop to prevent their blowing during the winter. Again, their physical character allows them to be worked early in the spring and very shortly after a rain. They thus afford a more regular and better distribution of labor than would be possible on a heavier soil. The farmer need not wait such a long period of time after a rain until he can resume his tillage, and again he can get upon his soil early in the spring, as well as do part of the plowing during the winter months in some seasons. This is an important item for a crop which requires or is given intensive culture such as the potato in this region. Most farms have more than one soil type upon the place, and usually the soils or soil types best adapted to the potato crop are given over to this industry. The remaining portion of the farm is devoted to other crops, which usually comprise hay, corn and rye. In spite of the fact that land values are high in this area, there remains a relatively large proportion of uncropped acreage per farm! For the owner farms this amounts tO' 25.8 per cent, of the total farm area, and for the tenant farms 30 per cent. Some of this land is used for roads, lanes and buildings, and the remainder is a waste land temporarily uncropped, with a very small area of woods and pasture. However, the amount of uncropped area is surprisingly large, when we consider the high value of this land. But, due to the fact that these soils are easily tilled, dry off quickly after a rain, are naturally fertile, are suitable for successive cropping of a cultivated crop so long as the organic matter is maintained in the soil, they lend themselves admirably to specialization, and intensive as well as extensive culture of the potato.

(See Figs. 2 and 3, following page 16.)

CROPS

No definite system of rotation is followed on these potato farms. Wherever some system is practiced, the rotation may consist of potatoes one or more years, hay one or two years, and com one year. Another system which is quite largely used consists of potatoes .one or more years, rye or wheat one year, hay one or two years, and com one year. Again, others attempt no rotation at all, and crop potatoes on the same area for an (indefinite period. In such a case, corn, rye or wheat, and hay, may be rotated on other fields. However, the custom of raising