Then he said: "I'm sure you do assume that everything just gets worse and worse. But the facts are that agricultural productivity has improved over the century. One obvious consequence of that is that the world's population has increased so much. And more than that, alongside that increase in population, the proportion of people working in agriculture has fallen. None of these things imply anything other than an increase in agricultural productivity."
I am not sure what the facts are that improve productivity -- because productivity is devilishly hard to measure. If I run a well capitalized 500 acre spread [meaning that I have the use of a slew of resources from elsewhere], I am more comfortable than someone who broke the sod in the prarie. I am not sure what you would say about the farm workers' comfort.
> Yes, and this primitive division of labour squandered resources.
Whoa. squandered resources. The key to modern farming is the squandering of resources -- pesticides that destroy resources, wasteful fuel consumption, destruction of the soil, pollution of all sorts.
Have you read about the phisteria resulting from the efficient, modern hog farms?
Oh, yes, the rate of farm bankruptcy is raging in the U.S. today, destroying the small farmers who are much better at conserving resources.
But then we can look forward to a future of delicious genetically modified food. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu