Agricultural
Statistics
of
the
State
of
Colorado
1923
STATE
BOARD OF IMMIGRATION
GOV. WILLIAM E. SWEET, PRESIDENT ALLISON STOCKER, DENVER
L. WIRT MARKHAM, LAMAR ARTHUR H. KING, STERLING
EDWARD D. FOSTER, COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION
HOWARD D. SULLIVAN, DEPUTY AND STATISTICIAN
DslNvER,COLORADo . E A Y I B BROB., PRINlQRB
Colorado Agricultural Statistics
for
1923
The agricultural statistics contained in this pamphlet have been for the most part collected
by
the assessors of the several counties in the state for the State Board of Immigration and com-piled under the direction of Howard D. Sullivan, statistician of the Board, in some cases in co-operation ,vith W. W. Putnam, Colorado agricultural statistician of the Division of Crop and Livestock Estimates of the United States Bureau of Agricultural Economics. This co-operation ,vas confined to the estimates of average yields per acre of the various crops for the state as a \vhole and of the leading crops for the several counties, to the re-vision of acreage figures for the various crops for the state as a \vhole and to the calculation of production and value of the var-ious crops for the state.Practically all of the material herein contained has been pre- ,-pared for use in the Colorado Year Book for 1924 and is published in this form to nleet a heavy demand for agricultural statistics for the state and the several counties, coming largely from people in other states ~Tho contemplate acquiring or renting agricultural land in Colorado. The Year Book is not available for free dis-tribution to such persons, and, nloreover, it contains considerable lllaterial in ,vhich they are not interested. This pamphlet is in-tended to take the place among this class of inquirers of the De-cember Crop Report, issued by this department in co-operation \vith the United States Bureau of Agricultural Economics, for \vhich much of the information herein contained is not available.
The maps and charts here,vith published have also been pre-pared under the direction of the statistician of the Board of Immi-gration, chiefly from data collected bJTcounty assessors, thOllgh in
SOlne cases data compiled by the federal census bureau have been
used.
The year 19,23 ,vas generally exceptionally favorable for erop production in Colorado, due to abnormally heavy rainfall through-out the gTo,ving season. Froln Jllne 1 to October 1 precipitation
'~Tas exceptionally heavy in all parts of the state, and in the east-ern plains district, "There farIning ,vithout irrigation is follo,ved U10st extensively, it ,vas about double the _nornlal precipitation for this period. This resulted in exceptionally large yields 01
corn, sorg'hums, -millet and similar crops, but eaused rust to dam-ag'e ,vhe-at very materially. Acreage of ,vinter ,vheat was reduced far belo'v norulal by the unusually dry ,veather that prevailed during the fall of 1922 and the succeeding' ,vinter, this and rust daulage curtailing production to such an extent that the actual
2 AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS
amount of wheat harvested was smaller than any year since 1918. Heavy rains at harvest time also damaged hay crops materially and caused slighter. damage to a few other crops. The benefits from the rainy season, however, vvere far greater than the losses, and the acreage of crops actually harvested "vas the largest in the history of the state, with perhaps the greatest total production.
1"he acreage actually planted "vas apparently slightly less than that planted for harvest in 1922, but t:4ere was almost no abandon-ment except in the case of "vheat, while acreage planted to corn, sorghums and a few other crops "vas greatly increased by the fav-orable season, being the largest on record for each of these crops. Much of the acreage on which winter wheat failed because of the drought of the fall of 19'22 and succeeding winter was planted to corn and sorghums, a.nd after the> heavy rains began in June much corn and sorghums "vere planted o?- land which it had not been in-tended should be cultivated. These facts account for the large differences between the acreage of corn, sorghums, and some other crops as reported by county assessors and shown in the county tables and the total acreage harvested as shown in the general pro-duction table on page 3. In the case of corn and sorghums es-pecially farmers increased their acreage greatly after they had , Inade their reports to assessors in April and May.
It will be noted from the table on page 3 and that on pages 4 and 6, that the value of 1923 crops was much above that for 1922. This was due chiefly to the increase in production before referred to, though there "vas a slight increase in the level of prices of farm products. In this connection it should be remem-bered that the values given in these tables are not meant to be the actual cash values for which crops of the state vvere sold, but the hypothetical farm value of those crops, based upon the' prices brought by such crops as were actually sold. In many cases these hypothetical values are above the actual values, being based upon prices for No. 1 grades, while much of the crop does not reach such grades. This is particularly true' of wheat, potatoes and hay. In fact, there is but one major crop-sugar beets-of ,vhich the returns in cash actually received by the growers reaches the hypo-thetical figure·s given. The systelll of calculating values used here, however, ~sthe same as that used in all parts of the country.
It should also be noted that the total values of the several crops and of all crops in the table on pages 4 and 5 are consider-ably lower than those in the table 011 page 3, due chiefly to the
fact that actual acreages reported by assessors are used in the former table, while the larger corrected acreages are used in the latter. Production given in the county tables is also less than that given in the table on page 3 for most crops for the same reason.
