Excerpt from report Summary: This report presents the results of a study of crop production practices, direct costs, and estimated net returns to unpaid labor, land, and management for five crops--cotton, soybeans, corn, oats, and wheat--by size of farm in the Delta area of Mississippi. The basic data were obtained by taking a survey of 163 farm operating units for the crop year 1957 and 160 operating units for the crop year 1958. Of these farm units 126 were in both surveys. Four sizes of farms were selected for analysis, as follows: (1) Less than 60 acres, (2) 60 to 399 acres, (3) 400 to 999 acres, and (4) 1,000 or more acres of cropland per farm. The hypothesis of this study was that lower direct costs per acre and per unit of output are obtained on large farms. The comparative analysis was restricted to direct costs in conjunction with estimates of gross returns per acre. In calculating per acre returns to land and unpaid labor and management, these estimates provided an indication of the relative returns from the various crop alternatives under existing management practices.