Location economics applied to tomato processing in New Zealand

Abstract

The processing of raw agricultural products is the largest function of the New Zealand manufacturing industry. It is inevitable that agricultural processing will expand. If New Zealand's economy continues to be based on agricultural production and is to remain viable it is imperative that agricultural processing become more efficient. Technical and economic research should investigate ways to improve this efficiency of processing.The following sections of this thesis will attempt to formalise the analysis of processing plant location problems, so that the future processing expansion may be planned more efficiently. The procedures will be illustrated by referring to the processing plant re-location problem of the tomato processing industry. Chapter Two will discuss the physical and institutional aspects of the tomato industry location problem. It will then outline the economic considerations and show that within the general decision framework there are specific economic problems which lend themselves to a scientific analysis. Finally the specific economic location problem to be analysed will be defined. There is an absence of comprehensive texts on the recent developments in the theory of the economics of location. Chapter Three will thus review the literature written on the broad subject of location economics with special emphasis on problem analysis. It will then indicate methods already discussed in the literature which may be relevant to the present study. The latter sections will be concerned with selecting methods, describing data collection, analysis and the implication of the solutions to the tomato industry's location problem.