Farm Planning in the Graman District of New South Wales: A Linear Programming Study of Adjustment Possibilities for Some Soldier Settlement Farms

A survey of twenty-three soldier settlers who face adjustment problems following falls in sheep product prices and damage to pastures by a scarab pest is reported. Settlers estimates of input-output coefficients, and results from agronomic experiments, were used in formulating production possibilities in linear programming matrices. Normative plans for farm organization, to maximise incomes over a range of relative prices of agricultural and livestock products, were derived from these matrices by simplex programming. It was deduced that settlers could increase incomes by devoting all arable or potentially arable land to a cash crop rotation, even where pastures are not scarab infested. Once embarked on such a programme, substantial change in relative prices would be required before further adjustment was merited. Improved rotations for the district have been suggested by co-ordinating results from programming and agronomic experiments