Date of Award:

5-1942

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Economics and Finance

Department name when degree awarded

Commerce

Committee Chair(s)

W. Preston Thomas

Committee

W. Preston Thomas

Committee

Dee A. Broadbent

Committee

George T. Blanch

Committee

King Hendricks

Abstract

In 1928 the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station conducted an Agricultural Survey of the "Dixie" section of Washington County, Utah, which includes the irrigated section of the Virgin and Santa Clara Rivers. Special reference was given to production and marketing of truck crops and fruit. In 1934-35 another study was conducted by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station and the United States Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Utah State Planning Board. In this study special reference was given to the present use of the agricultural resources of Washington County together with suggestions for better utilization of the resources and the development of new agricultural resources.

The cultivated acres per farm in Washington County (approximately 16 acres) necessitates a high acre return if the income from the farm is to be sufficient to maintain a family with a reasonable standard of living 1/.

It has been recommended, as a result of the above studies, that there be a reorganization and intensification of the farm business in Washington County. The 1928 study showed that on these small farms the crop yields per acre were relatively low for an area with such favorable growing conditions. Even though the price of agricultural products were high in 1928, the returns per farm were not high enough to maintain a favorable standard of living. The problem was to reorganize the farm business in such a way that the small acreage being cultivated would yield higher returns.

During the last few years it has been the general opinion that crop yields per acre have increased on the farms which have been producing sugar beet seed. This increase in crop yields is thought to have resulted from a better system of crop rotation and a more extensive application of fertilizer to the soil, which in turn came as a result of growing sugar beet seed on the farms.

Some of the data obtained in the 1928 and 1934 studies will be used in this study to show the supposed changes in crop yields and farm income on farms producing sugar beet seed.

The index prices of all commodities sold by farmers was 149 in 1928 and 98 in 1940. This would mean that farm prices were approximately 51 percent higher in 1928 than in 1940, but even so it will still be possible to make some good comparisons between the results of this study and the 1928 study.

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