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

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  • 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
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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).

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