Cost and returns of cotton in Tennessee, 1970

This study of Tennessee cotton production was designed to determine the cost and returns, to determine the relationships of input use, production practices, and production situations to yield and cost of production, and to develop a model that would explain the difference between low cost producers and high cost producers.

The data were obtained from records kept by farmers who participated in the Cotton Research and Education project during 1970. Basic data obtained from these records were costs of production, amounts of inputs, production practices, and returns for 141 fields on 65 farms.

Regression analysis was used to establish statistical relationships between costs of production and input use, production practice, and situational variables. Three different models were developed and tested, one of which produced usable results.

Discriminant analysis was used to determine how well selected inputs discriminate between low, medium, and high cost producers and, secondly, to determine the amount of change in cost of selected inputs necessary to shift an observation from one cost group to another.

The study was successful in determining what the costs were and how they were dispersed among the inputs. It was less successful in producing specific guidelines for use in reducing the cost of cotton production. The study showed that the one way to decrease the cost of producing a pound of cotton was to increase yield. The study did point out factors of production that affected yield and cost of production which the producer should be conscious of.