Agricultural Economics, Production Economics and the Field of Farm Management

Abstract

SINCE the interwar period, the relationship between the fields of agricultural economics, production economics and farm management has been under discussion. Early giant's of agricultural economics such as Taylor,' Black and Spillman saw rather clearly that economics had a considerable contribution to make to farm management and explained the need for this contribution with vigor. Agricultural economists were easily convinced. Actually, it might even be said that agricultural economists, deans and directors were overconvinced-at least agricultural economics attained such an administrative triumph over farm management in the land grant system that there is, at the present time, no separate department in the land grant system whose function is that of doing teaching, research and extension solely in the field of farm management.