MARKETING PRODUCE

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2312, 3 December 1925, Page 10

MARKETING PRODUCE

FAIv.MING EGON OMIOS. ASCERTAINING COSTS. An English writer says:—’'There are those who maintain that the troubles of British farming - arc less technical than commercial, that wo know better how t?t> produce than to soil. It is true also that sometimes the British farmer produces like an artist, aiming atl the best regardless of cost. In either case, the economy of production or in selling - . Is a clear conception of cost. Farming cannot be standardised like cottonspinning-, where the cost of every stage between the raw cotton and the yarn is known to the fraction of a penny, but there are guiding - figures to be ob-

talncd which should enable a farmer to criticise his own practice and to judge whether there has been waste in such items as labour or food. It is the business of the Institute of Oxford to ascertain such illustrative costs, and there is abundant evidence that its work is having' a valuable effect in stimulating- farmers to a more critical examination of theii Farming is after all a business, and research on the business side is a nooensary part of the scientific study ot production.