Age and farmer productivity
1995
Tauer, L.
Common belief is that the productivity of a farmer increases with age, reaches some mid-age peak, and then decreases with further age. An increase and then decrease in efficiency as a farmer ages has implications for the survival of beginning farmers, for successful succession planning, and even for the competitiveness of the nation's farmers with farmers of other countries. This study estimates the relationship between farmer productivity and age. The procedure used assumes that the agricultural technology used within a region is the same across age groups within that region, but that farmers of various ages may display different efficiencies in utilizing that technology, and may also use different levels of inputs in a technology that may not exhibit constant returns to scale. Technology is allowed to vary across regions. Efficiencies were estimated for each of the 10 United States Department of Agriculture production regions using state Census of Agriculture Data from each of those regions. Estimates vary by United States Department of Agriculture production region, but efficiencies generally increase 5 to 10 percent every 10 years of age to the age interval of 35 to 44, and then decrease at that same rate. Regions of the West show a lower efficiency decline than increase, and regions in the Southeast show no efficiency change with age. Farmers in the Corn Belt show no efficiency increase to middle age, but display efficiency decreases after that. Most of the regions display constant returns to scale. The results generally support the notion that a farmer's efficiency increases and then decreases with age, but the efficiency change is not as severe as previous estimates would suggest.
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