9 a AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



which are not being used ; but the most important means of 

 increasing the supply of agricultural products in the future 

 will be doubtless by farming more intensively the land which is 

 already in use. This means that the part which labor, equip- 

 ment, and skill in management will play in agricultural produc- 

 tion will be more important, relatively, in the future than in 

 the past. In other words, there will probably be a continual 

 increase in the amount of labor and capital it will pay to expend 

 on a given area of land with a view to increasing the product. 

 This will make the problem of the proper degree of intensity of 

 culture a central one in the minds of the thinking farmers. 



While the product can be greatly increased by means of 

 increased intensity of culture, it is true that after a certain 

 point has been reached the return per unit of expense declines 

 with every increase in intensity. Thus whether the new in- 

 crements of supply of farm products are secured by expanding 

 the farm area or by increasing the product per acre, the law of 

 increasing costs and diminishing returns per unit of social economic 

 energy put into agricultural production is almost sure to operate. 

 The hope for relief from the depressing effect of the law of diminish- 

 ing returns lies in the improvements in men and equipment which 

 will increase their efficiency. 



