The Machine Process in Agriculture and Industry

Abstract

T HAS been said that because of mechanization, A family farm in agriculture makes as little sense as a family factory in industry. Is this so? Evidently not. Family units of production are unthinkable in car and steel manufacture, but both family and larger-than-family units are as common in agriculture after mechanization as before. Why? Does not the reason lie in some profound difference in the nature of machine production in agriculture and in industry? On what physical foundations does this difference rest? Why are family and larger-than-family farms both compatible with either hand or machine technology? What non-technological factors are responsible for the dominance of each system in different regions, both now and in the pre-machine era? What important habits of life and thought does the advent of the machine process tend to conserve in agriculture but replace in industry?

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