Agricultural Economics (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Agricultural Economics

Among the newer subjects which are claiming the attention of the thoughtful citizen are Agricultural Economics and Farm Management. Both' are mere subdivisions of political economy. Farm management has to do with the farmer's relation to his individual farm, the central principle being the economic question of how he can secure the highest net returns. Agricultural Eco nomics, however, is concerned with the social aspects of agriculture, and has for its first consideration the welfare of the Republic, and for its second consideration the welfare of agriculture as one com. Ponent part of that Republic. Farm Management may be said to look on the farmer as practicing a trade: Agricultural Economics looks on the farmer as a citizen. The question of rural credit, for instance, is, to the teacher of Farm Management, the very concrete problem of where and how can farmer Jones borrow money at the lowest rate of interest: while this same question is, to the teacher of Agricultural Economics, the broad economic problem which recognizes the intimate and vital relation of sound credit to both the individual and community prosperity.

This book does not pretend to be a work of original research. It is a bringing together of some new and some old information which is scattered over a wide area of books, papers, reports, and other sources. The book is not written for the expert or specialist, but for the average student of agricultural problems.

My aim in writing this book is threefold: (1) to interest the reader in the subject of Agricultural Economics; (2) to point out by a few simple illustrations the most significant problems in this field; (3) and finally to stimulate thinking and discussion which may help towards the solution of these problems. Conversely, I have not tried to offer ready-made remedies for the problems dis cussed, or to formulate a set of laws and principles, or, indeed, to present a large number of entirely new facts to the reader. The facts and illustrations given are believed to have real significance in interpreting the deeper movements in agriculture.

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