Determining the optimum level of resource allocation on cotton farms in Southwest Tennessee by Linear Programmming technique

Cotton production is one of the most important farm enterprises in the farm economy of the United States. According to the 1954 Census of Agriculture cotton was grown on 18.1 percent of all farms and on 5.7 percent of the cropland harvested. The farm cash receipts from cotton lint and cotton seed were 7 percent of total farm cash receipts recorded in 1954. In the Old South, the farm income from cotton was 35 percent of total farm income from all enterprises. In the midsouthern hilly area, classified as Region III in the special report on cotton, and in which the present study area is located, cotton is also of major importance. In 1954, 66.9 percent of all farms in this region grew cotton; and the farms which obtained major share of income from cotton– the cotton farms, made up 89.1 percent of all commercial farms.

The farms were classified in the 1954 Census of Agriculture, into six economic groups. The percentage distribution of cotton farms among these economic classes is quite revealing in that it provides strong indicators of the low average income of cotton farms in this region. For example, only 1.3 percent of Cotton farms had gross sales of $10,000 or more in 1954, but 75.6 percent had gross income of less than $2,500. Less than a fourth were in the $2,500-$9,999 income group. The corresponding figures for the whole of United States were 21.9 percent, 49.3 percent, and 28.8 percent, respectively.