A FARM MANAGEMENT STUDY OF 224 COFFEE FARMS IN PUERTO RICO, 1934

Abstract

This farm management study consisted of 224 coffee farms in Puerto Rico. The study was conducted by the Division of Agricultural Economics of the Puerto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station during 1935, and covered the calendar year 1934. The average size of the farms was 186 cuerdas, with 88.5 cuerdas in coffee. Forty-two per cent of the coffee bushes were still under bearing age. There was an average investment of $15,580 per farm. The value of land alone constituted 83.4 per cent of the investment. All of the farms studied were still in a period of reconstruction, following the effects of the 1928 and 1932 hurricanes. The average labor income on these farms was $-1,120 during 1934. Only 9 per cent of the farmers made positive labor incomes, averaging $414 per farm. Seven farmers made labor incomes of $500 or more. Labor income showed an indirect relationship with all measures of size of business, and a direct relationship with the measures of efficiency of operation. In none of the tables included in this study was a positive labor income obtained for any of the groups of farms. Farms operated by the owners themselves did not lose as much money as those operated either by the owner and a mayordomo or by salaried managers. Farms located on dirt roads made better labor incomes than those located either on highways or off the roads. Every coffee farmer in Puerto Rico should compare his farm with the averages given in table 13, and try to make his farm better than average in every point, particularly those in which it falls below the average.