ABSTRACT
The role of the discipline of farm economics in diagnosing weaknesses in existing farm systems and evaluating possible improvements to increase resource productivity is universal. Traditionally, largely through historical circumstance, the ecological environment has been the sole interest of researchers and advisers, although it is only a part of the production environment of the farmer. The improvements selected as a unit of investigation and planning will be communicated to the farmer through the hierarchy of the existing extension services. Farm economic surveys are usually limited to the economic characteristics of the farm business. Because of the nonmarket priorities of farmers and the need for additional criteria in planning, the scope of investigation must be widened. Shortcuts do become possible and indeed, given the high costs of data collection and the limited investigational resources, are almost inevitable in the degree of detail required in describing the farming system.
