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For more than a decade the trend toward increased mechanization in U.S. agriculture has been the source of farm worker protests, legislative hearings, and lawsuits. (The recent case pitting the University of California’s prestigious agriculture research establishment against Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers is a prominent example of such litigation.) A key question in the controversy is whether federal and state governments should continue to invest more than $1 billion per year in the development of large-scale, capital-intensive technologies known to have significant social costs. Opponents of continued public support for these new technologies argue that they will eliminate thousands of farm jobs when the nation already suffers from a serious unemployment problem; proponents contend that such capital-intensive technologies keep food prices down for consumers while generating the potential for increased wages for farm workers. This book explores both sides of the debate, tracing the history of the mechanization issue and assessing the economic and sociological bases of the opposing positions. Maintaining that present methods of analysis are not adequate for resolving the conflict, Professor Price suggests an alternative approach, highlighted by a detailed case study of the costs and benefits generated by a new harvest technology adopted in the tomato-processing industry in California. He singles out the role of market structure as the most important variable in the distribution of benefits resulting from mechanization. Finally he relates his research findings to policy alternatives concerning farm mechanization in general, as well as to other problems involving technological change.
Agricultural economics research paper presenting a framework for the economic analysis of the social implications and economic implications of agricultural mechanization in developing countries - specifies the major types of agricultural policy decisions in this field and the research needs for improving decision making, reviews selected economic studies on farm mechanization in terms of research methodology, etc., and makes suggestions for the redirection of research. Bibliography pp. 57 to 67.
Four dissimilar cases of agricultural mechanization in different regions of Ethiopia are described and analyzed for potential benefits, costs, and compatability with certain objectives selected from the Ethiopian Third Five-Year Plan. The broad definition of mechanization is employed: any form of mechanical assistance used in agricultural technology, facilitates consideration of any agricultural system in Ethiopia as a potential site for mechanization. Objectives of the thesis are: to present production data over a period of ten years for which farm budgeting is employed; to analyze the financial data with benefit-cost techniques to relate certain non-financial aspects of these cases to objectives specified in Ethiopian development plans for which index trendswere estimated; to demonstrate the types pf data required for economic analyses of agricultural mechanization; to demonstrate the applicability of the methodology to four different agricultural systems. Systems are classified as employing hand-, animal-, or engine-pwered technology. The selected cases depict four alternative options open to policy-makers interested in improving agricultural mechanized technology in Ethiopia. Mechanization is regarded as a process of improvement or transition. Potential commercial viability is the principal criterion employed for selection of cases. No value is placed in mechanization per se without economic justification for proposed changes. Hence, introduction of cash crops into the agricultural systems are essential.
America's farms and farmers are integral to the U.S. economy and, more broadly, to the nation's social and cultural fabric. A healthy agricultural sector helps ensure a safe and reliable food supply, improves energy security, and contributes to employment and economic development, traditionally in small towns and rural areas where farming serves as a nexus for related sectors from farm machinery manufacturing to food processing. The agricultural sector also plays a role in the nation's overall economic growth by providing crucial raw inputs for the production of a wide range of goods and services, including many that generate substantial export value. If the agricultural sector is to be accurately understood and the policies that affect its functioning are to remain well informed, the statistical system's data collection programs must be periodically revisited to ensure they are keeping up with current realities. This report reviews current information and makes recommendations to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Economic Research Service (ERS) to help identify effective methods for collecting data and reporting information about American agriculture, given increased complexity and other changes in farm business structure in recent decades.
The role of twentieth-century agricultural mechanization in changing the productivity, employment opportunities, and appearance of rural America has long been appreciated. Less attention has been paid to the impact made by farm tractors, combines, and associated equipment on the standard of living of the U.S. population as a whole. This paper demonstrates, through use of a detailed counterfactual analysis, that mechanization in the production of farm products increased GDP by more than 8.0 percent, using 1954 as a base year. This result suggests that studying individual innovations can significantly increase our understanding of the nature of economic growth.