Analysis of cotton production cost: Tennessee, 1969

This study was concerned with the cost per unit of production of cotton in Tennessee. The objectives were; (a) to determine the cost of production for a sample of fields in Tennessee in 1969, and (b) to explain the variation in the cost of production among this sample of fields. The data for the study were obtained from the records kept by 83 cotton producers on 183 fields in West and Middle Tennessee during 1969. The average total cost per acre was $131.17, and the total cost per pound of lint averaged 21.53 cents. The gross returns averaged $152.07 per acre, and the net returns averaged $20.90 per acre. There was an inverse relationship between pounds of lint produced per acre and cost per pound of lint; that is, as the yield of lint per acre increased the cost of producing a pound of lint decreased. The corre-lation coefficient between these two variables, cost and lint, was -.73. Statistical testing indicated that the fields with a low produc-tion cost, 18.5 cents or less per pound of lint, were significantly larger, produced a significantly higher lint yield per acre, and had a significantly lower cost per pound of lint than the fields with a high cost, 30 cents or more, per pound of lint. However, the average total cost per acre was not statistically different between the two cost cate-gories. Two regression analyses were used to ascertain any relationship between cost per pound of lint and qualitative variables and yield of lint cotton per acre and input variables. The results of the two regression analyses explained a small proportion of the variation in cost per pound of lint cotton and yield of cotton per acre.