ABSTRACT
This chapter describes and analyzes the production milieu in Ecuadorian agriculture and its evolution since 1965. Changes in crop production can be conceptualized as resulting from: changes in land area under cultivation; and changes in technology which encompass increased use of modern factors of production, improvements to the land such as irrigation and leveling and use of better quality land. The analysis demonstrates that technical changes explained an important part of changes in production for many of Ecuador's crops over the last two decades and were more important than changes in land area for several principal crops. Shrimp are discussed along with livestock and poultry because they are raised in captivity in a maricultural process completely analogous to agricultural production. The degree to which the modern technology is sustainable has been the subject of concern by ecologists for more than a decade.
