Why are farms so small?

doi:10.1016/0305-750X(94)90044-2

World Development

Volume 22, Issue 5, May 1994, Pages 691-706

https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(94)90044-2 Get rights and content

Abstract

Despite increases in average size, farms remain much smaller than industrial enterprises. This paper examines the experiences of five extremely large-scale, “industrialized” agricultural operations undertaken in developing countries since WWII. These projects have a poor performance record, one which is shared by other forms of very large-scale agricultural production. The failure of large-scale agriculture in the developing world is attributed to a failure to allow relative factor prices to guide efficient and effective investment. Diseconomies of scale in production also suggest that there are limits to farm-size growth worldwide.

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Since the food crisis of 2007, the world has witnessed a sharp rise in large-scale agricultural land acquisitions, particularly in developing countries. While this has justifiably generated a lot of attention, it is not a new phenomenon – there is a history of investment in large-scale agriculture in developing country settings (Cotula, 2012), a history generally littered with failure (Scott, 1998; Johnson and Ruttan, 1994). What is new today is the unprecedented financial backing and scope of such investments, and of course the enormous size of today's large-scale farms.
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Why are farms so small?

Abstract

The Bigness Complex

Agribusiness Worldwide

Venezuela: A prospective market for grain and livestock products

Agrarian Structure and Productivity in Developing Countries

Agricultural mechanization: Issues and options

The Rice Economies: Technology and Development in Asian Societies

The machine process in agriculture and industry

Journal of Farm Economics

Integrated forestry-agroforestry-livestock land use at Jari Florestal e Agropecuaria

Decollectivization and the agricultural transition in East-Central Europe

Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems

Farm structure, productivity, and poverty

Agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Economies of scale and technical efficiency: A case study in tea production

Journal of Rural Development

Farming Today

Why some companies opt out?

Jari and development in the Brazilian Amazon

Interciencia

Agro-business and agricultural planning in Iran

World Crops

Gintong Butil

SMC explains project pullout

Gintong Butil

SMC explains project pullout

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The riches of Khuzestan unlock the future for descendants of Darius the Great

Fortune

The induced innovation model of agricultural development

Agricultural Development: An International Perspective

The Agricultural Development of Venezuela