FARM ADJUSTMENT AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT*

The problem of low income farms in Australia is examined in a dynamic context of overall farm adjustment. It is suggested that the pace of agricultural adjustment has been and is too slow, in the light of current and prospective market and cost trends. Consideration is given to both the case for, and the possibilities of, government action and the relationship of on?-farm adjustment to the adjustment needs of the economic and the social infrastructure on the agricultural sector.     

河南农民收入的影响因素分析及增收策略研究

河南省作为我国的农业大省,农业人口数量在全省占有相当大的比重,河南省农民的收入水平在一定程度上影响着河南省的整体收入水平,所以增加河南省农民的收入对河南省的整体经济水平有着提升性的作用,但目前河南省农民的收入水平在全国处于较低的水平。文章就河南省农民增收影响因素进行分析,对河南省农民人均纯收入及增长百分比进行统计和计算,并将其与经济较为发达的省份相比较,发现河南省农民收入增长不稳定,且与经济发达地区差距较大。对河南省农民收入构成进行剖析得知,影响河南省农民收入增长的因素主要是家庭经营性收入、工资性收入、财产性收入和转移性收入。并针对这些影响因素提出了完善农村基础设施建设、加快适销对路农产品的生产、促进农业产业化经营、加强对农民的科学素养教育、加强乡镇企业吸纳农民就业、农业发展公司化等一系列有助于河南省农民增收的策略。     

SOME HUMAN ASPECTS OF GIVING AND TAKING FARM MANAGEMENT ADVICE

Superimposed on, or underlying, the technical aspects of giving farm management advice are a variety of human considerations. The techniques used and the advice given cannot be divorced from the individuals involved and the way in which advice is communicated. Management advice will be sought for a variety of reasons and from a variety of sources. It will have its own special problems, stemming from the nature of the subject itself, and will generate its own longer term benefits. Differing advisory styles exist but it is possible to suggest some general guidelines and conclusions.     

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.     

SOME FEATURES OF FARM INCOME AND STRUCTURE VARIATIONS IN REGIONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Farm income trends and developments in farm structure have varied within the UK in the last decade. While Wales and Northern Ireland have similarities in form structure, agricultural production has risen to a much smaller extent, and farmers have suffered more severe net income reductions, in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in England and Wales. The net incomes of Cropping farms rose faster and, in England, have remained much higher than those of Dairy or Livestock farms. Large numbers of small farm businesses depend on beef cattle and sheep production and have limited development prospects. As most of their occupiers are unlikely to find other employment, structural problems will persist and policy adjustments are suggested to enable agriculture to contribute more to the economy in remote and depressed localities.     

上海市农业结构调整必须重视配套措施落实

根据中国入世后,上海市农业结构调整的新形势,论述了科技优先,提高农民组织化程度,推进农业企业化经营,完善外贸体制,建立发达的农产品电子商务系统,加快农业园区建设等8项配套措施。     

FURTHER TOWARDS A MORE DYNAMIC APPROACH TO FARM PLANNING: A COMMENT

In a recent contribution to the Jounal, Harle (1974) introduces a model of the farm firm based on the achievement of what he calls economic technical eficiency. The approach Is an attempt to reconcile recent interpretations of the farm planning problem with the author's own practical experience in farm management. The nature of the planning problem and the definition of economic technical efficiency are of central importance to the validity and usefulness of the model, and both demand further comment.     

GOAL PROGRAMMING AND MULTIPLE CRITERIA DECISION-MAKING IN FARM PLANNING: SOME EXTENSIONS

This paper is the sequel to a previous article by Romero and Rehman on the role of multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques, particularly goal programming (GP), in farm planning. This assessment of the potential usefulness of the MCDM paradigm is carried further and now covers the extensions to GP and other related methodologies such as multiobjective programming, compromise programming, multigoal programming and generalised GP. Later analysis is focused on methods of dealing with uncertainty and risk in farm planning models, by demonstrating how game theoretic principles and the MOTAD approach (along with its main variant, target MOTAD) can be incorporated within the MCDM framework.     

FARMERS' ATTITUDES TO RURAL ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE: RESULTS OF A SURVEY IN JEMALONG SHIRE,N.S.W.*

The Australian Government has provided adjustment assistance to the rural sector since 1970 under several schemes. The demand for assistance has been lower than expected, given the alleged size of the problem, particularly for the 'welfare' oriented provisions. The results of a survey of farmers' attitudes to the current Rural Adjustment Scheme are examined in an attempt to explain this phenomenon. Measures designed to ease financial difficulties or to facilitate on-farm adjustment were much preferred to those designed to assist farmers to leave agriculture. Considerable confusion about the scheme was evident and many farmers thought that information about the scheme was inadequate. Better extension and counselling is suggested to improve information flows to farmers. The formulation of a more structured set of eligibility criteria is also suggested to reduce the complexity and uncertainty which farmers face when they are considering lodging an application for assistance.     

FINANCIAL STRESS AND CONSUMPTION EXPECTATIONS AMONG FARM HOUSEHOLDS: NEW ZEALAND'S EXPERIENCE WITH ECONOMIC LIBERALISATION

A review of New Zealand's experience with assistance to agriculture through the 1960s and 1970s and the subsequent deregulation of the sector in the mid-1980s provides background to this study. Data for sheep and beef farmers are used to elaborate the variety of financial changes in the boom and bust cycles that followed the policy changes. Changes in farm business stress are examined using some conventional financial ratios. New measures which partition household expenditure between consumption and investment are then developed. These better explain the stress experienced among farm households as a consequence of the readjustment process and provide insight to the impact of the legacy of debt, encouraged by government intervention, on farmers' current and expected household consumption over recent years. New Zealand's experience reveals that farm household consumption stress has been unevenly distributed. This suggests that policy concern, following the removal of government assistance to agriculture, should focus principally on the mitigation of the household distress caused by ongoing farm debt commitments.     

THE INCOME AND CONSUMPTION EXPERIENCES OF A SAMPLE OF FARM FAMILIES*

The way in which the consumption of farm families is adjusted to fluctuations in income has important implications at the national, regional and farm levels. In this paper, hypotheses about the consumption of farm families are examined using data from 16 families in a wheat-sheep region of New South Wales for the eight-year period 1968/69 to 1975/76. The results of the study indicate that lagged effects are important in explaining consumption by farm households. It was not possible to partition these lag effects between partial adjustment and normal income influences. Estimates of the short-run (one-year) marginal propensity to consume (mpc) were quite low, ranging from 0.13 to 0.16. The best estimates of the long-run mpc ranged from 0.19 to 0.25.