FARM COSTING

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 77, 13 March 1934, Page 9

FARM COSTING

Work at Canterbury REVIEW OF OPERATIONS Farm economic research is a recent development. It is the study of how man obtains wealth by farming, and only in comparatively recent years has man been able to devote some of his time to an organised study of himself and of the means whereby he obtains his living. Now that production has become so simplex and trade world-wide, the necessity for such study, if only to provide definite facts on the basis of which decision as to future actions can be made, is obvious. If any planning of production to consumptive needs is to occur, or any sound guidance to producers as to what products should be. produced and where, is to be made available, then all the revelant knowledge as to comparative costs and methods ot production should be first considered. In ’New Zealand, a country which has to export many of its farm products, most economic research has hinged round methods of reducing costs and improving the quality of the products exported. With the develop, ment of tariffs and quotas, attention is being given by the various marketing boards to the possibility of making reciprocal trade agreements and widening the market for the exportable goods. In U.S.A. most agricultural research hinges round fann economic research. There the main object of research at the present moment is by means of land utilisation surveys, to assist removal of farmers from tne poorer marginal areas of land by delimiting these areas. In England, a large number of the university colleges have book-keeping and farm costing departments. There the main object of research at the present moment is, by means of surveys and methods of production and marketing, to assist improvements in these lines, especially in marketing. As a result of study of methods of marketing in other countries, including New Zealand, attempts are being made to replace the old costly individual methods of marketing by modern larger scale methods. MAKING RAPID PROGRESS. Each farmer in his farming makes experiments. He tries out different seeds, manures, breeds of stock, implements, methods of cultivation and management. Some experiments are

successful, some are not. The farmer’s own accounts measure the success or otherwise of the experiments. It is the job of the farm economist to record the successful methods. By this means rapid progress can be achieved at little cost. By cost accounting all operations or a few selected operations can be costed. By co-operation with farmers who agree to keep detailed diary records exact data on all farm costs can be determined, e.g., by this method the costs of tractor apd horse labour, the cost of growing various crops, and costs involved m production of sheep and wool, and butter-fat and pork have been determined by Lincoln College. On account of the labour involved and detail required for complete cost accounting, only a few records can be examined. Moreover, the costs obtained are accurate only for the particular seasonal and other conditions experienced on the individual farm costed. To overcome these difficulties and to determine average costs a survey questionnaire form is posted to a number of farmers who agree to co-operate in the supply of information or filled in by the investigator himself personally visiting and questioning each co-oper-ating farmer. Individual names and details obtained are, of course, confidential, but by this means average costs for a large number of farmers can be quickly obtained; e.g., by this method surveys of average horse and tractor costs, of header harvester and tin mill costs, returns and methods of management for dairy, sheep and cropping farms have been compiled by Lincoln College. Th ; s information can also be made to include data on the best methods of management, best size of farms, producing value of the land, and much other business information of value to farmers farming that type of soil. CO-OPERATION ESSENTIAL. The co-operation of farmers by some such method is essentia] if a sound body of knowledge, i.e., a sound science of farm management is to be built up This knowledge is required for trading purposes, for purposes of farm advising work, and for advising new farmers, trustees, or old farmers seeking advice with regard to the best methods of management. The accounts also provide the only sound method of estimating producing values of the land. In the future it may be possible to replace present taxation based on market values of the land by taxation based on the actual average producing values.