_ Kentucky Agriculture-Z Eayperiment Station 39
r · all others in their ability to resist the unfavorable conditions
ofthe weather.-   i —
Cost of Producing Strawberries. Data from farms in
e . . . . .
Christian Count Y now in Jroeess of are naration for a bulletin
7 7
;, . . . . . .
show that strawberries have excellent possibilities in many
H areas of western Kentucky as a cash enterprise supplementary
to tobacco. Data as to the cost of production of 165 crops of
5 strawberries marketed in thc years 1921, 1922 and 1923, show
f that 81 per cent of the crops were sold at prices which netted
the growers profits. That is, 81 per cent of these crops were
d sold at prices which allowed the growers returns above wages
tor their own labor, tor the use ot teams and tools, tor land
? rent and tor the other expenses of production. Detailed figures
S from 139 crops of tobacco grown in the same area in the same
{6 years, show that only 54 per cent of these tobacco crops re-
lé turned the growers’ profits above the cost of production when
’ figured on the same basis.
d D
il The growers producing these profitable strawberry crops
S obtained, on the average, $61.54 per acre above the cost of
i . . .
production. The growers producing the profitable tobacco
crops received, on the average, $46.67 per aere above the cost
t iroduction
Lt 0 I .
yl The average total cost of producing strawberries on all
,S farms from which data were obtained was, for those marketed
N in 1921,   per acre or   per crate; in 1922, $190.84
,_ per acre or $2.21 per crate, and in 1923, $149.52 pe1· acre or
d $2.54 per crate. This includes all costs until delivered to the
i_ local shiping point. The high acreage a11d low crate eosfs
0 for 1922 are due to the large yield for that year. Since
B harvesting costs are included, a high yield means a relatively
,€ high aere and a low crate eost. The average priee reeeived
O by these growers was, in 1921, $4.10 per crate; in 1922, $2.60
U er crate, and in 1923 $3.07 er crate.
¤ . ’ . .
€_ Of interest. in this connection is the tact that the group ot
strawberrv erowers makin<»· the lar·>·est wrofits per acre had
h a P" f` C
B_ only from two to four acres per year. The average acreage for
.0 the 50 most profitable crops out of the 165 was only two and