"SOME FACTORS IN SUCCESS" No. 2- East of Scotland arable farms in 1929-30

In an area where many of the farmers keep accurate financial accounts, economic research, very properly, has commenced with an investig- -ation of these accounts. Research is being done by the Edinburgh College upon two distinct types of agriculture - (a) semi-arable sheep farms in the Border Counties, and (b) arable farming for the production of crops for sale in the Lothians and counties north of the Forth. The present report deals with holdings of the latter type. Some farmers are more successful than others. The object of the investigation is to discover wherein the "goodness" of the "good farmer" lies. Some of the factors in success may be under the farmer's control, for example in a livestock district he may be able to increase the proportion of sheep carried by his holding if sheep prove to be more profitable than cattle. Alternatively a factor may be something the farmer himself cannot change. Thus, if heaviness of soil is a cause of non-success the farmer cannot "by taking thought" alter this, although he may seek a rent reduction or change his farming system. Accordingly, even at a time when, in certain types of arable farming, "successful" men are merely those whose failure is less disastrous than that of their neighbours, no apology is made for the title chosen for the present series of reports.