The recent worldwide increase in the price of liquid fuels (petrol and diesel etc.) has implications for all walks of life including the agricultural sector. Being the most popular form of energy that drives the mechanical means of production and other agricultural activities (supplying and processing etc), oil is an important form of input energy in agriculture. Greater affordability of oil accelerates its use as farm fuel, usually replacing menial labor and causing a decrease in labor costs. Increase in fuel prices, therefore, is expected to slow down mechanization of farms and encourage menial labor. But is it really so?

A glance at the past 40 years of oil input in American agriculture reveals that labor use on farms has not risen, in general, despite the persistent increase in oil prices over the past several decades. While this may sound rather surprising, more than one reason account for this observation.

One important reason that allows continual increase in the use of oil, despite the rise in its price, is that oil still remains a comparatively small expenditure in farming. Land rent, fertilizers, and labor exceed the cost of production on most farms. That is why a rise in oil prices has not influenced the agricultural sector into using more labor or getting more land under menial cultivation.

The exhaustive utilization (or what may be termed ‘overuse’) of fuel-driven farming equipment is another factor that inhibits the practice of employing more personnel and reducing the share of farm fuel as input energy. Such thorough use of machinery also prevents the employment of technical workforce that is often required for running new equipment.

Then there is this psychological barrier of perceiving the use of new/alternative energy inputs as risky business. Oil as farm fuel has won its place as the stuff that works and hence a reliable means of energy for production. In an important sense, farming is now oil-dependent.

Nevertheless, modern agriculture is in need of a greater share of alternative energy sources, including manpower, solar energy, wind energy, and other natural energy sources that are more eco-friendly and less ‘addictive’ than oil. This becomes especially important when viewed in the context of global wars for oil possession. A decrease in dependence of the agricultural sector on oil, therefore, is the next issue to consider.

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