ABSTRACT
Like disputes over national boundaries, human rights, and conflicts between church and state, cost of production also must be considered a major source of conflict throughout history. Disputes over land values and rent, the value of the produce from land, and the subsequent taxes levied have long plagued societies. Political forces were searching for a way to use cost of production (COP) measures as a means to justify an argument that farm prices should be equal to the cost of production plus a reasonable profit. The consequence of one dispute between policymakers and specialists in COP measurement has already been mentioned—the resignation of Spillman as head of the Farm Management Office in 1918. From 1918 until the abolishment in 1953 of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, some form of farm management office dealing with cost of production existed after Spillman resigned.
