This study is based on the hypotheses that technical
advances have increased the efficiency with which factor-inputs
are converted into output on dairy farms, and have induced
shifts in the input structure of dairy farms. The method used
to test these hypotheses has been to measure changes in: (⊥) the
real savings in the use of factors during the period 1946 to
1954 and then to make a linear projection of the trend, which
existed during the 1946 - 1954 period, into 1961; and (2) the
relative importance of inputs over the period 1946 to 1954.
Inputs have been divided into seven categories viz:
feed purchased; custom work; labour; cost of operating farm
machinery and repairs and maintenance of machinery, equipment
and buildings; depreciation; interest on investment; and miscellaneous
items. Milk was the only output considered in this thesis.
Efficiency was measured as the ratio of total output to total
input within a given year.
The results of the study support the hypothesis. They
show that shifts had taken place in the relative importance between
labour, and the other factors of production, and that associated
with these shifts had been an increase in overall efficiency
between 1946 and 1954 of 20 percent, which if projected to 1961
would amount to 34 percent. Thus technological progress had resulted in gains in
overall efficiency, with which inputs were converted into output
on dairy farms. The study has also shown the types of adjustments
on dairy farms which were necessary in order to
achieve gains in overall efficiency.
It has also been indicated that the dairy farm industry
of the Lower Fraser Valley has the potentialities for increasing
its output of milk in response to future increases in demand,
which growth in population would render necessary. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/41681 |
| Date | January 1962 |
| Creators | Walker, Hugh V. Hillary |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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