An economic analysis of three alternative harvesting, curing, and market preparation production systems for burley tobacco using container-type methods

The objectives of this study were to determine and compare the labor and equipment requirements for selected nonconventional methods of harvesting, curing, and market preparation of hurley tobacco. A comparative cost analysis of three nonconventional production systems at selected output levels and wage rates, as well as any other advantages and disadvantages of the nonconventional methods, were also presented. The production process for producing hurley tobacco was divided into component production stages based on similarity of labor tasks and cooperative interaction of labor and equipment in completing a particular activity or set of tasks. The procedure involved collection, description, computation, and analysis of data surrounding the harvesting, curing, and market preparation stages of the three nonconventional hurley production systems. A budgeting technique was used to compare input requirements and costs of the selected production methods. Total costs of the three stages of production at selected wage rates and output levels were computed. The walk-priming system was the least-cost system at output levels below 21,000 pounds, or seven barn cures, and had lower capital investment costs than both the ride-priming and once-over systems. Primarily because of lower variable costs than both the ride-priming and walkpriming systems, the once-over system was the least-cost alternative at all output levels above seven barn cures. An output of 9,000 pounds, or three barn cures, was required before the walk-priming system had lower total costs of production for the harvest-through-market preparation stages than the conventional method of hurley production. An output of 12,000 pounds was required for once-over and 18,000 pounds for ride-priming before total costs were below that for the conventional harvest-through-market preparation stages of production.