Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1912 — COST OF GRAIN GROWING IN CENTRAL CANADA [ARTICLE]

COST OF GRAIN GROWING IN CENTRAL CANADA

A careful canvass made of a number of men farming in a large way Indicates that even with the extreme expense of harvesting, the crop, which has been caused by the bad weather and difficulty In threshing, wheat has been produced and put on the market for less than 55 cents’a bushel. The average freight rate is not over 13 cents per bushel. This would make the cost of prodnctlon and freight 68 cents and wduld leave the farmer an actual margin on his low-grade wheat of 17% cents and for his high-grade wheat-of 19% cents; and though this is not as large a profit as the farmer has every right to expect, it Is a profit not to be despised, and which should leave a very fair amount of money to his credit when all the expenses of the year have been paid, unless the value of low-grade wheat sinks very much below Its present level. A matter of importance to the prospective settler is that of the cost of production. The following table has been prepared after careful Investigation:

Interest on 320 acres, value |3O per acre, 3 years at 6 per cent Interest .... $1,720.0(P Interest on horses, machinery, wagons, ploughs, harrows, etc., to operate 320 acres —say $2,500 for 3 years . 450.00 Getting 320 acres ready for - crop first year, doing one’s own work, with hired help, about 33.50 per acre....... 1,120.00 Getting 320 acres ready for crop,, second and third year, about $1.25 per acre per year, or 32.50 per acre 2 years one’s own work and hired help 800.00 Seed per year, wheat, per acre 31.25, 3 years 1,200.00 Seeding, 320 acres, 25 cents per acre, 3 years 240.00 Twine, 320 acres, 30 cents per acre, 3 years 288.00 Harvesting, 320 acres, 30 cents per acre, 3 years.... 288.00 Marketing, 320 acres, estimate 20 bushels per acre per year for 3 years, 3 cents per bushel, or 9 cents per bushel for 3 years..... 676.00 Threshing 320 acres, estimate 20 bushels per acre per year fora years, 6 cents per bushel per year or 18-^ cents for 3 year 5......... 1,152.00 Total ......37,834,00 Cr. By wheat crop farm 320 acres for 3 years, average 20 bushels per acre per year for" 3 years, or a total of 60 bushels, = 19,200 bushelß at 80 cents per bushel $15,360.00 Balance to credit of farm after 3 years operation, $2,663.00 per year 7,526.00 “To operate 480 acres would cost less in proportion, as the plant required for 320 acres would do for the larger farm, and the Interest on plant for the extra 160 acres would be saved.” The figures given may be open to criticism, but they will be found to be reasonably accurate, with a fairness given to the expense columns. There - are.-those who profess to do the work at a much less coat than those given.