How long will a machine last? What is the annual cost of using machines? Would ownership be more economical than hiring the machine?

These important questions confront the farm operator when he decides whether or not to buy a given machine. In order to provide answers to these questions a survey was conducted in August and September of 1941 with the cooperation of the Works Progress Administration and the Agricultural Marketing Service.1 Information was collected on life, annual use and costs for 25 of the machines most commonly used on Iowa farms. Schedules were obtained from a random sample of approximately 3,000 farms with reports on a total of 38,083 individual machines.