Abstract
Today, as throughout recorded history, the majority of mankind devotes the greater part of its energy, time, and information to securing its food supply. Food not only provides the only power supply that man can operate on but its ingestion - the refueling process - is one of the most popular of human activities. Agriculture has provided most of mankind with its food and fuel supply throughout history and in turn this process has been, and to a large extent still is, powered by human muscles. However, the expenditure of energy in labour conflicts with another very basic although perhaps insufficiently recognized human drive - the desire to avoid work. This principle - that of least effort - has even been elevated to the status of the basic law of human behaviour [1].
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes and References
Zipf GK (1965) Human behaviour and the principle of least effort. Hafner, New York, p 573 (facsimile of 1949 edition), elevated Maupertuis’ “Principle of Least Action” to the status of the fundamental principle of human behaviour in the following words “a person will strive to solve his problems in such a way as to minimize the total work he must expend in solving both his immediate problems and his probable future problems. That in turn means that the person will strive to minimize the probable average rate of work expenditure (over time)”
The experimental support for this view most frequently quoted is Lee’s studies of the !Kung bushmen of the Kalahari desert as, for example, Lee RB (1969) !Kung bushmen subsistence: an input-output analysis. In: Vadya AP (ed) Environment and cultural behaviour, pp 47–49. National History, Garden City, NY. A popular presentation of this view of pre-agricultural man and of the consequences of agriculturalization can be found in Leakey RE and Lewin R (1977) Origins. Macdonald and Janes, London, p 264
Genesis 3:17,19 translation by Zlotowitz RM, vol 1. Artscoll Tanach Series, Mesorah, New York
An example of ecological arguments in favour of manpowered agriculture can be found in Rappaport RA (1971) The flow of energy in an agricultural society. Sci Am 225:117–132. A more balanced view is given by Evans LT (1976). The two agricultures - renewable or resourceful. J Aust Inst Agric Sci December:222–231. Economic arguments for the use of human beings as energy sources are cited by Braudel IF (1981) The structure of everyday life. Collins, London, pp 337–340
For example Rifkin J with Howard T (1980) Entropy, a new world view. Viking, New York, pp XI, 305
For example Marchetti G (1979) On energy and agriculture. RR-79–10 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Laxenbourg, Austria
As established by Irenaeus in: adversus haereses iii 3 (English translation: Against heresies by Harvey WW (1857), Ante-Nicene Christian libraries)
See Rashi’s (R Shlomo Yitzhaqui) commentary on Genesis 5:29 ’And he named him Noah saying, ’This one will bring us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground which the Lord has cursed‘
Fluck RC (1981) Net energy sequestered in agricultural labour. Trans Am Soc Agric Eng 1449–1455 contains a full review and list of references and corrects a double accounting error in calculation of GER of labour
IFIAS (1974) Energy analysis. Workshop Report No 6. Fed Inst Adv Study, Stockholm, p 89
Odum HT (1983) Systems ecology. New York, pp XV, 644
Leach G (1975) Energy and food production. Int Inst Environ Develop, London, p 151
Norman MJT (1978) Energy inputs and outputs of subsistence cropping systems in the tropics. Agro-Ecosystems 4:355–366
The inadmissability of energy accounting for labour is vigorously argued by de Wit CT (1979) The efficient use of labour, land and energy in agriculture. Agric Syst 4:279–289. Other references for the same view can be found in Fluck (9)
The problems in applying economic analysis to peasant agriculture (“natural economies”) and the emergence of the idea of substituting material or energy balances can be seen in the post-revolution writings of the Russian agricultural economist Chaganov AV - see The Theory of Peasant Economy, edited by Thomer T, Kerblay B, Smith REF (1966) and published for the American Economic Association by Irwin RD, Homewood II, pp lxxxv + 337. A similar approach to the study of fellah farming can be found in Elazari-Volcani I (1930) The Fellah’s Farm Agric Ext Stn, Jewish Agency for Palestine, Tel-Aviv Bull 10, p 128 and more recently and universally in Clark C and Haswell M (1966) The Economics of Subsistence Agriculture, 2nd edn MacMillan, London, p 216
Schulman J-P (1978) Analyse energetique de l’Agriculture française entre 1800 et 1970. Memoire pour le diplôme d’etudes approfondies d’histoire economique quantitative. Université de Paris I (Panetheon - Sorbonne) Octobre 1978, p 67.
Much of the statistical data on which this study is based can be found in - Toutain J-C (1961) Le produit de l’agriculture française de 1700 à 1958: II. Cahiers de l’ISEA, histoire quantitative de l’économie française; serie AF No 2, suppl No 115 de Juillet 1961, ISEA
Deleage JP, Julien JM, Souchon C (1979) Analyse eco-energetique du systeme agricole Français et de son évolution. Laboratoire d’écologie générale et appliquée. Université Paris VII, p 87, 1–5 annexe
Steinhart JS, Steinhart Carol E (1974) Energy use in the US food system. Science (Wash DC) 184:307–316
Studer R (1978) Inquiry into the energy input and output of Swiss agriculture. Congress paper XIX CIOSTA Congress, Ermatingen, Band 1, S. 27–38
Johansson E et al. (1975) Resource fluxes in Swedish agriculture and forestry, 1956 and 1972, with an emphasis on the energy flow. Institute of Economy and Statistics. Report No 64, Uppsala, p 127 (in Swedish)
Stanhill G (1974) Energy and agriculture: a national case study. Agro-Ecosystems 1:205–217
Stanhill G (1979) A comparative study of the Egyptian agro-ecosystem. Agro-Ecosystems 5:213–230
Pimentel D, Hurd LE, Belotti AC, Forster DJ, Oka IN, Sholes OD, Whitman RG (1973) Food production and the energy crisis. Science (Wash DC) 182 (2 November): 443–449
Pimentel D, Pimentel M (1979) Food, energy and society. Arnold, London, p 165
Smith EJ (1981) Energy and labour use by rural manufacturing industries. Rural development research report 26. Economics and Statistics Service, USDA, Washington DC, p 22
Batty JC, Keller J (1980) Energy requirements for irrigation. In: Pimentel D (ed) Handbook of energy utilization in agriculture. CRC, Inc Boca Raton Florida, pp 35–44
Kalma JD, Newcombe KJ (1976) Energy use in two large cities: a comparison of Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia. Environ Stud 9:53–64
Ziman J (1976) The force of knowledge. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 25. For other examples of the relative costs of pre-industrial renewable energy sources see Braudel, IF, Ref 4
Bell L (1891) Electricity as the rival of steam. Elect Wld 17(11):212
Stanhill G (1980) The energy cost of protected cropping: a comparison of six systems of tomato production. J Agric Eng Res 25:144–154
Spreng DT (1978) On time, information and energy conservation. Research report ORAU/ IEA-78–22 (R). Institute for Energy Analysis, Oak Ridge, Tn
Examples taken from Western Europe at the end of the last century are given by Kropotkin P (1899) Fields, factories, and workshops. Hutchinson, London
Descriptions of Asian systems include Christensen BP (1968) Taiwan’s agricultural developments: its relevance for developing countries today. USDA Economic Research Service, Wash DC
El-Tobgy HA (1976) Contemporary Egyptian Agriculture 2nd edn, Cairo
Newcombe K (1979) Energy use in the Hong Kong Food System. Agro-Ecosystems 2:253–276
Ruthenberg H (1971) Farming systems in the tropics. Clarenden, Oxford (see especially Chapter 7)
Wortman S (1975) Agriculture in China. Sci Am 232(6): 13–21
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1984 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stanhill, G. (1984). Agricultural Labour: From Energy Source to Sink. In: Stanhill, G. (eds) Energy and Agriculture. Advanced Series in Agricultural Sciences, vol 14. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69784-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69784-5_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-69786-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-69784-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive