This study in production economics is one of a series dealing with economic efficiency in agriculture. It is designed to measure and compare certain aspects of efficiency in selected agricultural areas. The investigation deals only with tangible measures of economic efficiency and resource productivity; it does not relate to intangible and subjective aspects of farming such as the values which farm persons may attach to "agriculture living" per se. While certain of these quantities are important, they are not subject to easy measurement and likely have no great importance for the wide differences observed in the study. While the investigation is aimed particularly at some inter-regional productivity and efficiency comparisons, it gives insight into intraregional and even intra-farm productivity conditions.

The central objective of the investigation is to measure the value productivity of resources and their services used in different farming regions and to predict, within the limitations of the data and methods, the effect of varying combinations and quantities of resources on the value of the product produced. The study is designed to be of value both to individual farm decisions and national policies.