Cost and returns from the burley tobacco enterprise in the central basin of Tennessee

Studies have been made of the cost and returns of producing burley tobacco in east Tennessee, as well as in the neighboring states of North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia. No such study has been made in the Central Basin of Tennessee, although burley tobacco is an important cash crop in the Central Basin. This is a study of the cost and returns of producing burley tobacco in the Central Basin of Tennessee. Producers of burley tobacco need basic information pertaining to its cost of production to improve their farm organization. This study of the cost and returns from the burley tobacco enterprise will furnish information for one farm enterprise. Combined with studies of other farm enterprises, this study will aid producers in formulating a detailed budget of all requirements anticipated for each of their crops. Such budgeting is essential for sound managerial decisions in farm organization. Individual producers in the Central Basin will be able to use this study to compare their production and marketing practices with other producers and find methods of improvements. Other farmers will be able more closely to figure costs of raising burley tobacco as to the requirements of labor, capital and land, and calculate how such a crop will fit into their own farm programs before actually undertaking it. Professional agricultural workers such as county agents, Farm Bureau personnel and reporters for farm publications need basic costs of production figures for information to be used in advice to burley tobacco producers. Through studies of this nature, sound information can be obtained and passed on to the agricultural producers. Agricultural policy makers need the type information provided in this report if a sound policy concerning acreage and marketing quotas is to be formulated. With information on cost and returns from the burley tobacco enterprise available, it will be possible to formulate a better policy concerning tobacco.