Mechanization and North American Prairie Farm Costs 1896–1930

Trevor J. O. Dick

The Journal of Economic History, 1982, vol. 42, issue 1, 199-206

Abstract: This paper attempts to document and account for cost savings on North American small-grain prairie farms in the early twentieth century. Costs of production are analyzed using the ex post price and yield data abundantly available. Cost conjectures are developed and compared with scattered farm data that itemize inputs and reveal some aspects of farming technique. Total costs per acre, despite year to year fluctuations, appear to have fallen gradually over the entire period consistent with a comprehensive and continuous learning process, rather than only suddenly in the late 1920s when there was a marked increase in the sales of gasoline-powered farm machinery.

Date: 1982
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