The effect of a decade of farm income fluctuation on a selected group of farmers: A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Agricultural Commerce with Honours in the University of Canterbury

Abstract

Nationally there have been a number of important agriculture policy measures taken since the mid-1960's to direct farm production towards defined targets. Because of fluctuating output prices a number of these measures have been modified or replaced, and in many cases the rationale for change has been based on subjective assessment. In this context two key issues have been debated at length, namely farmers propensities to consume and invest. Peirse in considering the implications of these propensities, hypothesized that sheep farmers aim (in general) at spending one half of their expected gross income on farm running expenses. A major limitation in this work was the rudimentary breakdown of disposition of gross income.