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Ontario Agriculture in Transition: The Switch from Wheat to Cheese

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Robert E. Ankli  and
Wendy Millar
Robert E. Ankli
Affiliation:
University of Guelph.
Wendy Millar
Affiliation:
University of Guelph.
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Abstract

This paper rejects the traditional interpretation that farmers shifted from wheat to mixed farming in eastern North America because of changes in relative costs. It argues instead that they shifted because mixed farming involved less risk. We test the proposition that farmers were willing to give up a larger expected income in wheat production for a smaller but more stable income in mixed farming. The results are consistent with our hypothesis.

Type
Papers Presented at the Forty-First Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , March 1982 , pp. 207 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1982

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References

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14 Ibid., p. 3.

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