FARM INCOME POLICY IN ONTARIO: REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

This paper discusses and evaluates "The Challenge of Abundance" [l]. The recommendations of the Ontario Farm Income Committee are reviewed, the assumptions implicit in the recommendations are presented and the shortcomings of the Report discussed. The author, while finding a number of sound recommendations, ques the extreme emphasis on government intervention and control; the lack of research documentation; the failure to adequately comprehend the dependence of Ontario farmers on inputs from and sales to the rest of Canada and foreign countries; and the absence of a program to assist the majority of farmers who would no longer be allowed to produce food.
LE REVENU AGRICOLE EN ONTARIO: REVISION ET CRITIQUE — Cet article discute et évalue "The Challenge of Abundance" [l]. Les recommandations de la commission ontarienne sur le revenu agricole sont examinées, les assumptions dans les recommandations sont présentées, et les imperfections du rapport sont discutées, Tout en constatant plusieurs recommandations sérieuses, l'auteur interroge l'appuie intense donné à l'intervention et l'autorité govememental; le manque de documentation; l'incompréhension vis à vis la dépendance du fermier ontarien dans la vente au reste du Canada et à l'étranger; et l'absence d'un programme qui assisterait la majorité des fermiers qui ne sont plus permis de produire les aliments.     

LABOUR INPUT DECISIONS OF SUBSISTENCE FARM HOUSEHOLDS IN SOUTHERN MALAWI

The objective of the paper is the presentation of a farm-household model which allows an analysis of labour input decisions of rural households in an environment with risky agricultural technologies and off-farm employment opportunities. Labour input decisions are condensed into a stochastic linear programming framework, and applied to a typical rural household in Southern Malawi. Weak adoption of yield-increasing technologies is explained by different opportunity costs of time of family members and by the risky nature of income generated using traditional or yield-increasing agricultural technologies. The view that land-saving innovations will increase agricultural production is revised. Special extension programmes for family members with low off-farm employment opportunities are proposed to increase the adoption of those technologies. These programmes have the purpose of reducing anticipated subjective income deviations for yield-increasing innovations.     

EFFECTS ON FARM INCOMES AND RURAL LABOUR OF A RELATIVE INCREASE IN WAGES*

We use the concept of the elasticity of farm incomes with respect to changes in input prices to analyse the effects of a large increase in relative wages on selected measures of farm incomes. In order to estimate the elasticity of farm incomes we have to estimate elasticities and cross-elasticities of demand and supply for farm labour and capital. The estimates of elasticity of demand for operator and hired labour allow us to calculate the impact of a rise in wages on numbers of farmers and hired labour employed in agriculture.     

LABOUR ON THE FAMILY FARM: A THEORY AND SOME POLICY IMPLICATIONS

This paper seeks to examine the labour-input decisions on family farms at a theoretical level and to demonstrate some policy implications of this theory. Where the family has the opportunity to work on the land, utility maximisation, rather than profit maximisation, would seem to be a more appropriate criterion for decision-making. Accordingly, the decision-making process is analysed under this alternative assumption. We then consider some of the policy implications of this model. In particular, we consider the effects of policies on the labour-inputs since the optimal allocation of labour is at the heart of most agricultural policies.     

WESTER WHEAT MARKETING IN ONTARIO

The purpose of this paper is to assess the success of the Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board in fulfilling the need which prompted its formation. Its prime objective was to increase, by various means, the proceeds received by producers from the sale of winter wheat. This paper will focus on the Board's efforts to raise these returns by means of its minimum price policy. Empirical problems greatly hindered the evaluation. The conclusions reached have largely been derived from logical deductions rather than from refined statistical techniques.     

FARM FINANCE AND FARM INDEBTEDNESS IN THE EEC

Many farmers in the EEC are currently having to finance an increasing indebtedness when prospective farm profitability is falling, interest rates are likely to remain high and inflation rates are steadying, and taxation is becoming heavier. It is also a time when bankers traditionally specialised in the financing of farming are considering whether to diversify their lending. Thus they are considering more critically the balance between profitability and security in their farm lending.     

LABOUR USE AND LABOUR REQUIREMENTS IN UK AGRICULTURE

Estimates of labour input coefficients for individual agricultural enterprises have many uses for policy-makers, agricultural administrators, farm mangement advisers and academics alike, though they have attracted relatively little attention in the UK in recent years. This article describes a new method for estimating labour input coefficients which enables the estimates to be updated quickly and cheaply using information already available from the annual June Census. Some possible uses of the resulting coefficients including the evaluation of prospective changes in agricultural policy are described.     

STABILITY IN FARM INCOMES

The primary aim of this study has been to measure the extent of income variability in United Kingdom agriculture; to determine whether variability has been diminished; to compare the incidence of variability on various types of farm; to consider to what extent individual farm have consistent or divergent experience of income variation; and to determine whether net incomes generally move in the same direction as the prices of farm products. A secondary aim has been to determine whether income variation in agriculture is greater or less than in other sectors within the United Kingdom and within the United States. Income variation has been found to be roughly twice as large in the farm sector as in other sectors and in all sectors variation was less in the second half of the period studied.     

MEASURING THE RELATIVE INCOME OF FARM LABOUR, 1941–611

This is an analysis of farm labour income at an aggregate level for the period 1941 to 1961. The income of farm labour was estimated for paid workers, operators or self-employed workers, and total paid and unpaid workers, These incomes were compared with five sub-sectors of the nonfarm economy and for five geographical regions. In estimating income, adjustments were made for the age and sex composition of labour force, bours of work in various industries, movement of prices of inputs and output, and period of employment of farm workers. The results show significant differences in incomes of various categories of workers, and incomes of farm workers compared to various sub-sectors of the nonfarm economy. Similarly, various regions were found to. be highly heterogeneous with respect to relative labour income levels. When the farm and nonfarm sectors were adjusted for differences in characteristics, the labour income ratio of Canadian agriculture on a normalized man equivalent basis ranged between 41 and 63 percent.     

CHANGES IN FARM PRODUCTION UNDER INTENSIVE FARM MANAGEMENT ADVICE*

This investigation examines the impact of intensive farm management advice on levels and productivities of resource use on samples of farms. A total of 60 members of 13 farm management advisory services and 60 non-members, matched by locality, were studied in two farming regions of Western Australia. A production model has been formulated and analysed which discriminates between effects of differences and changes in resource use and productivity over time and between members and non-members. Major differences between members and non-members over time have been rates of growth of inputs and outputs rather than systematic changes of production relationships.