Time Requirements and Costs of Some Farm Operations on Strip-Cropped and Non-Strip-Cropped Fields

Abstract

Records of time spent were kept by 130 Steuben, Schuyler, and Livingston County farmers during the summer of 1939. The Soil Conservation Service supervised the work on the 75 strip-cropped farms; high school agricultural teachers supervised the work on the 55 non-strip-cropped farms, This analysis is based on the 21 records kept on strip-cropped farms and the 23 records kept on nonstrip- cropped farms that were found to be most complete, A group of 75 farmers cooperating with the College in a study of costs and returns found that on their farms during 1939, the cost of an hour of labor was 30 cents, one horse working for one hour cost 19 cents, and a tractor cost 49 cents per hour, These rates were used in estimating the cost of farm operations. The cost of the equipment was based on a study of 438 farms by J.P. Hertel. A brief summary of the results is presented in the following seven pages. A more complete report is available from the Soil Conservation Service upon request.