Mechanization Potential for Expanding Midwestern Fruit and Vegetable Enterprises
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The Department of Economic Science was founded in 1898 to teach economic theory as a truth of industrial life, and was very much concerned with applying economics to business and industry, particularly agriculture. Between 1910 and 1967 it showed the growing influence of other social studies, such as sociology, history, and political science. Today it encompasses the majors of Agricultural Business (preparing for agricultural finance and management), Business Economics, and Economics (for advanced studies in business or economics or for careers in financing, management, insurance, etc).
History
The Department of Economic Science was founded in 1898 under the Division of Industrial Science (later College of Liberal Arts and Sciences); it became co-directed by the Division of Agriculture in 1919. In 1910 it became the Department of Economics and Political Science. In 1913 it became the Department of Applied Economics and Social Science; in 1924 it became the Department of Economics, History, and Sociology; in 1931 it became the Department of Economics and Sociology. In 1967 it became the Department of Economics, and in 2007 it became co-directed by the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Business.
Dates of Existence
1898–present
Historical Names
- Department of Economic Science (1898–1910)
- Department of Economics and Political Science (1910-1913)
- Department of Applied Economics and Social Science (1913–1924)
- Department of Economics, History and Sociology (1924–1931)
- Department of Economics and Sociology (1931–1967)
Related Units
- College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (parent college)
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
- College of Business (parent college)
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Abstract
Midwestern fruit and vegetable farmers face challenges in expanding their farms. Growing fruit and vegetables remains a labor intensive industry and most of the country's commercial production takes place on large scale farms in the Western United States. Mechanization may aid farmers in scaling up production by offsetting labor costs. This report uses a six-farm case study and a survey to examine the trends of both labor and machine use over different levels of production. Larger farms tended to use more labor and machinery but machinery seems to exhibit a degree of labor savings potential. The context of expansions impact the labor tradeoff potential of machinery. Some crops are more difficult to mechanize and expansions into dis- similar crops tended to reduce the machinery-labor tradeoff potential. A dynamic optimization model was constructed to simulate farm expansions to address issues of timeliness and crop mix context.