Farm Size Economies in Northwest Central North Dakota

Since the 1930's, the average farm size has been has been increasing whereas the number of farms decreasing. Farm mechanization has made better efficiency at larger farm sizes more feasible. The relationship between farm size and production costs for a small grain producing area in North Dakota is examined in this study. The data used, the procedures chose, land and labor use by farm size, the costs and returns per tillable acre, the operator's returns, the cost-size relationships and their conclusions are laid out for discussion. Greater economic efficiency is associated with larger farms primarily from improved utilization of labor of the farm operator and higher crop income per acre