OPTIONS FOR REDUCING INPUTS TO AGRICULTURE: A NON‐ECONOMIST'S VIEW
从非经济学家视角，探讨了在农产品过剩和价格下降背景下，农民如何通过减少投入成本来应对生产配额，并呼吁加强低投入生产系统研究及与经济学的结合。
By adopting new (higher output) technology farmers have largely compensated for the steady fall in ‘real’ EEC farm prices: as a result food production is in surplus. Because immediate price cuts adequate to curb production are unlikely, further restriction on farm output (e.g., milk quotas) appears unavoidable. Farmers must then aim to reduce their input costs so as to produce their ‘quota’ as cheaply as possible. The paper examines options for reducing inputs, and concludes that more research on lower‐input production systems is urgently needed, and that the economic discipline must be closely integrated with this research. It notes that a shift towards ‘less intensive’ farming would be in line with public concern on the environment, food quality and animal welfare.