LEADING FEATURES OP THE WHEAT INDUSTRY 209 



6. Organisation. 



(a) Managing Capabilities Necessary in Farming. 

 So much, then, for the three agents of production, land, 

 labour and capital. Let us now look into the way in 

 which these three are gathered together in production 

 by the average farmer. In other words, we are about 

 to study the efficiency of the farmer as an organiser, 

 who, because of his varying range of duties, should 

 possess a relatively high degree of managing capabilities. 

 In discussing the difficulties of large scale production 

 in agriculture in Chapter VI., we have already seen 

 that the problems of farm management require special 

 skill and tact on the part of him who would undertake 

 them. 



The position of a farmer as a manager is a difficult 

 one. Not only has he to study the technique of pro- 

 duction and the grouping of capital and labour, but the 

 commercial functions connected with his industry must 

 also receive his attention. To perform these functions 

 efficiently special qualities, other than those necessary for 

 the management of production on the farm, are required. 

 Much attention is being paid to the promotion of scien- 

 tific farming by the Agricultural Department and the 

 Experimental Farms, but steps should also be taken 

 towards the wider dissemination of knowledge upon 

 farm economics. That there is a lack of this knowledge 

 has been demonstrated recently in popular discussions 

 on the rural industries, consequent upon the action of 

 the Government in fixing the prices of certain products. 

 It is evident from these discussions that the possession of 

 knowledge of even the elements of agricultural economics 

 is a rare quality. While it is necessary to encourage 

 further the development of scientific farming, the Gov- 

 ernment should establish some really reliable source of 



