Substitution of labour and energy in agriculture and options for growth.

Abstract

The opportunities for human labour and energy substitution in agricultural growth are investigated, with special attention to the Netherlands. From the technical aspect labour and energy can be viewed as the two basic production factors of agriculture. Methods of calculating labour and energy requirements are first discussed, beginning with the production means employed up to the final product of agriculture. Limited quantities of additional labour and/or energy are required in order to achieve the maximal quantity of production per ha. agricultural land. The function which brings the demand for both these resources into relation at the production level, is presented under two limiting situations: (1) the minimal additional amount of labour required with unlimited energy available, and (2) the minimal amount of energy with unlimited labour available (the typical situation in most developing countries). With the help of these functions, functions of the same yield level are constructed for the variable input of the two factors; these factors show the opportunities for a substitution of labour and energy in the agricultural production process at different yield levels. The form of this "growth path" shows that there exists a majority of production situations in which the yield per unit of additional energy, the yield per unit of additional labour input and the yield per area unit with increasing input of labour and energy per ha. increases, while at the same time the additional energy input per unit of additional labour input decreases. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)