IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v5y2016i4p47-d85411.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Much Time Does a Farmer Spend to Produce My food? An International Comparison of the Impact of Diets and Mechanization

Author

Listed:
  • María José Ibarrola-Rivas

    (Instituto de Geografía, Universidad Autónoma de México, Investigación Científica S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, CP 04510 Ciudad de México, Mexico)

  • Thomas Kastner

    (Institute of Social Ecology Vienna, Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, Wien, Graz, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Austria)

  • Sanderine Nonhebel

    (Center for Energy and Environmental Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 6, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Work is one of the main inputs in agriculture. It can be performed by humans, animals, or machinery. Studies have shown strong differences throughout the world in labour required to produce a kilogram of food. We complement this line of research by linking these data to food consumption patterns, which are also strongly different throughout the world. We calculate the hours of farm labour required to produce a person’s annual food consumption for four scenarios. These scenarios are comprised of two extreme cases for production systems and diets, respectively, that illustrate prevailing global differences. Our results show that the farm labour requirements differ by a factor of about 200 among production systems, and by a factor of about two among consumption patterns. The gain in farm labour efficiency with mechanization is enormous: only 2–5 hours of farm labour are needed to produce the food consumed by a person in a year. This value is much lower than the time an average person spends on buying food, cooking, or eating.

Suggested Citation

  • María José Ibarrola-Rivas & Thomas Kastner & Sanderine Nonhebel, 2016. "How Much Time Does a Farmer Spend to Produce My food? An International Comparison of the Impact of Diets and Mechanization," Resources, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:5:y:2016:i:4:p:47-:d:85411
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/5/4/47/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/5/4/47/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pierer, Magdalena & Winiwarter, Wilfried & Leach, Allison M. & Galloway, James N., 2014. "The nitrogen footprint of food products and general consumption patterns in Austria," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P1), pages 128-136.
    2. Leontief, Wassily & Duchin, Faye, 1986. "The Future Impact of Automation on Workers," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195036237.
    3. Gudina Terefe Tucho & Henri C. Moll & Anton J. M. Schoot Uiterkamp & Sanderine Nonhebel, 2016. "Problems with Biogas Implementation in Developing Countries from the Perspective of Labor Requirements," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-16, September.
    4. C. Peter Timmer, 2009. "A World Without Agriculture: The Structural Transformation in Historical Perspective," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 43120, September.
    5. Siegmund-Schultze, M. & Rischkowsky, B. & da Veiga, J.B. & King, J.M., 2007. "Cattle are cash generating assets for mixed smallholder farms in the Eastern Amazon," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 94(3), pages 738-749, June.
    6. repec:aei:rpbook:24862 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Gillman, Max, 2011. "A Simple Theory of Structural Transformation," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2011/4, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section, revised May 2011.
    8. David Pimentel, 2009. "Energy Inputs in Food Crop Production in Developing and Developed Nations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-24, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. María-José Ibarrola-Rivas & Sanderine Nonhebel, 2022. "Regional food preferences influence environmental impacts of diets," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(4), pages 1063-1083, August.
    2. Souhil Harchaoui & Petros Chatzimpiros, 2018. "Energy, Nitrogen, and Farm Surplus Transitions in Agriculture from Historical Data Modeling. France, 1882–2013," Post-Print hal-02999180, HAL.
    3. Cock, James & Prager, Steven & Meinke, Holger & Echeverria, Ruben, 2022. "Labour productivity: The forgotten yield gap," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tobias Maier & Anke M�nnig & Gerd Zika, 2015. "Labour Demand In Germany By Industrial Sector, Occupational Field And Qualification Until 2025 - Model Calculations Using The Iab/Inforge Model," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 19-42, March.
    2. Ni, Ji-Qin, 2024. "A review of household and industrial anaerobic digestion in Asia: Biogas development and safety incidents," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    3. Shah, Syed Mahboob & Liu, Gengyuan & Yang, Qing & Casazza, Marco & Agostinho, Feni & Giannetti, Biagio F., 2021. "Sustainability assessment of agriculture production systems in Pakistan: A provincial-scale energy-based evaluation," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 455(C).
    4. Alobo Loison, Sarah & Hillbom, Ellen, 2020. "Regional evidence of smallholder-based growth in Zambia’s livestock sector," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    5. Sunghun Lim, 2021. "Global Agricultural Value Chains and Structural Transformation," NBER Chapters, in: Risks in Agricultural Supply Chains, pages 29-57, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Ximena Rueda & Andrea Paz & Theodora Gibbs‐Plessl & Ronald Leon & Byron Moyano & Eric F Lambin, 2018. "Smallholders at a Crossroad: Intensify or Fall behind? Exploring Alternative Livelihood Strategies in a Globalized World," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 215-229, February.
    7. Duchin, Faye & Lange, Glenn-Marie, 1995. "The choice of technology and associated changes in prices in the U.S. economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 335-357, August.
    8. Glenn-Marie Lange, 1998. "Applying an Integrated Natural Resource Accounts and Input-Output Model to Development Planning in Indonesia," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 113-134.
    9. Garry Mcdonald, 2010. "A didactic Input-Output model for territorial ecology analyses," Working Papers hal-00911640, HAL.
    10. Riithi, Alexander Njuguna & Irungu, Patrick & Munei , Kimpei, 2015. "Determinants Of Choice Of Alternative Livelihood Diversification Strategies In Solio Resettlement Scheme, Kenya," Dissertations and Theses 269714, University of Nairobi, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    11. Säll, Sarah & Gren, Ing-Marie, 2015. "Effects of an environmental tax on meat and dairy consumption in Sweden," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 41-53.
    12. Kym Anderson, 2023. "Why did agriculture’s share of Australian GDP not decline for a century?," Departmental Working Papers 2023-09, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    13. Melathopoulos, Andony P. & Stoner, Alexander M., 2015. "Critique and transformation: On the hypothetical nature of ecosystem service value and its neo-Marxist, liberal and pragmatist criticisms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 173-181.
    14. Alexandre Tisserant & Stefan Pauliuk, 2016. "Matching global cobalt demand under different scenarios for co-production and mining attractiveness," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 5(1), pages 1-19, December.
    15. Rachael D. Garrett & Meredith Niles & Juliana Gil & Philip Dy & Julio Reis & Judson Valentim, 2017. "Policies for Reintegrating Crop and Livestock Systems: A Comparative Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-22, March.
    16. Giller, Ken E. & Andersson, Jens & Delaune, Thomas & Silva, João Vasco & Descheemaeker, Katrien & van de Ven, Gerrie & Schut, Antonius G.T. & van Wijk, Mark & Hammond, Jim & Hochman, Zvi & Taulya, God, 2022. "IFAD Research Series 83: The future of farming: who will produce our food?," IFAD Research Series 322005, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    17. Faye Duchin, 2017. "Resources for Sustainable Economic Development: A Framework for Evaluating Infrastructure System Alternatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-15, November.
    18. Dorin, Bruno & Joly, Pierre-Benoît, 2020. "Modelling world agriculture as a learning machine? From mainstream models to Agribiom 1.0," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    19. Huang, Jikun & Shi, Pengfei, 2023. "IFAD Research Series 90: Rural Transformation, Income Growth and Poverty Reduction by Province in China in the Past Four Decades," IFAD Research Series 335374, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    20. Agnes Andersson Djurfeldt & G�ran Djurfeldt, 2013. "Structural Transformation and African Smallholders: Drivers of Mobility within and between the Farm and Non-farm Sectors for Eight Countries," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 281-306, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:5:y:2016:i:4:p:47-:d:85411. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.