Powerpoint presentationIncreased output in UK
agriculture 1935
- 85:
using Farm Management Survey data from
south
-
west England to explore processes of
technical changeESR

Brassley, P

Butler, Allan

Harvey, D

Lobley, M

Winter, M

Open Research Exeter

Increased output in UK agriculture 1935-85:  using Farm Management Survey data from south-west England to explore processes of technical change Paul Brassley, Allan Butler, David Harvey, Matt Lobley, and Michael Winter University of Exeter Volume of UK agricultural output               Growth rate peaked 1945-65 Sources of output growth  Change the output mix  Change inputs  Because output prices change  Because input prices change  Increase output per unit of input  By increasing output  By decreasing inputs What do we already know?  A lot about what happened at the national level   More output with less labour and more capital   Arable expanded more than grazing livestock Agricultural output in England and Wales   1940   1960   1979 Cereals (m.tons)     5.5     7.9     16.9 S. beet (m.tons)     2.7     7.3       7.7 Cattle (millions)     7.0     8.8       9.7 Sheep (millions)   17.7   18.4     21.6 Pigs (millions)     3.4     4.3       6.6 Poultry (millions)   51.8   82.7   108.6 Milk (billion litres)     8.1   11.9     15.4 What do we already know (2)  Less about the differences between   Expanders   Survivors   Failures   Not much about why it happened   Interwar/postwar price response differences   Impact of external influences We need a farm-level dataset  The UK Farm Management Survey was established in 1937 And is still going The FMS contains information on  Outputs  Inputs  Labour  Capital Preliminary analysis of the Farm Management Survey  10,000 field books   Farms remained in the survey for 15 years – in theory   But some farms stayed in for 40 years   Full or partial data extraction Analysing the accounts for changes   Outputs   Yields   Inputs / costs  Performance measures  Purchased inputs / £100 labour cost   Output per £100 labour cost   Output per £100 input Output per acre indices for dairy farms (1940 = 100) Farm code number     1960     1979 101      216      304 115      135      177 192      186      378 209      162        87 466      173      184 515      228      472 524      230      442 Output per acre indices for livestock farms (1940 = 100) Farm code number 1960 1979 106 lowland   224   400 469 lowland   136   115 497 lowland   156   214 162 upland   349   422 324 upland   307   420 Some unexpected cost ratios 1940 1960 1979 Purchased inputs / £100 labour   329   310   309 Output / £100 labour   384   421   388 Output / £100 input   115   135   130 But specialisation increases as expected  Average index of farm specialisation for 12 farms   1940 = 50.6  1979 = 74.6  Changes for 5 mainly dairy farms  01020304050607080901001940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1979Year of Field-bookIndex of Farm Specialisation (IFS)Farm 3Farm 5Farm 6Farm 8Farm 12Consistent results for mechanisation  9 out of 12 farms had horses in 1950   None had horses in 1955       10 of the 12 farms bought tractors during the war Conclusions (1)  Should we use the whole archive to produce comparative data?   Or produce individual farm histories year by year supported by oral history Conclusions (2)  We are interested in the processes of technical change  Is south-west England typical? -we can use Reading data for comparison with other regions  We are also analysing official promotion of technology, extension and education, and the impact of the media  Conclusions (3)  Still working on the big question – was output increase the result of    More inputs, or   More outputs per unit of input 

Increased output in UK agriculture 1935-85: using Farm Management Survey data from south-west England to explore processes

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Open Research Exeter