Table 5. Percentage change of agricultural commodity production from 1954 to 

 1978 (Florida Crop and Livestock Reporting Service. Annual field and crop 

 summaries 1967-78, and Vegetable summaries, 1954, 1960-80). 



inflation, the expansion in production offset the declining real prices 

 resulting in a rise in the real value of agricultural production. The strong 

 demand for Florida's agricultural products coupled with rising productivity 

 has increased employment in Florida. Although production has increased, the 

 number of farms and farmland has declined. A detailed analysis of this change 

 is reported later in this report. The number of farms from 1954 to 1979 de- 

 creased from 57,543 to 35,100 (39%), and the land area in farms declined from 

 18.1 million acres to 13.4 million acres (26%). These acreages include crop- 

 land, pasture, woodland, and other noncultivated land. In 1954-78, the area 

 of cropland increased 32.9%, whereas the area of pasture and woodlands fell 

 69.4% (Table 7). Acreage in crops has fallen for corn, cotton, eggplant, 

 oats, peanuts, strawberries, tobacco, tomatoes and others, and has increased 

 for celery, sweetcorn, escarole, green peppers, and lettuce. The decline in 

 agricultural land area in Florida can best be explained by considering other 

 factors of production such as capital, labor, fertilizer, and energy. The 

 increased demand for land was brought about primarily by the great increase in 

 population and its attendant needs, which has raised the opportunity cost of 

 holding land. Opportunity cost is value of the best potential rent or revenue 

 foregone by not renting or selling farmland. Because the price of land has 

 risen faster than wages and the cost of capital, farms used less land and more 

 labor and capital. For example, in 1975-79 land and building prices rose 

 53.6%, machinery prices rose 46.6%, and wages rose 38% (for the trend in these 

 prices see Table 11) . 



The introduction of new machinery has made the cultivation of large farms 

 more efficient and less costly per acre than smaller farms. Consequently, many 

 small farms are absorbed as the demand for large-scale operations increases. 

 This trend explains why the average acreage per farm steadily increased in 

 1954-78. Many of the innovations that have contributed to the phenomenal 

 growth in farm production and farming methods have aroused public concern; the 

 increase in the application of chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides have 



10b 



