Browsing by Author "Torvinen, Mikael"

Land consolidation aims to increase profitability of agriculture by improving fragmented landholdings. As a rule, the arrangements must be profitable which means that the evaluation tools for profitability must be based on up-to-date knowledge about farming methods and costs. Based on Juhana Hiironen's doctoral dissertation published in 2012, the method uses harm coefficients based on work efficiency measurements that have been created decades ago. This study examined whether those factors describe modern farming. The study defined how machine labor costs change as the area of the field increases. The material was collected from three contractors using the Valtra Connect -service. The data was saved from Suonentieto Ltd.’s AgriSmart web page, which was used to compile field-parcel-specific fuel consumption and duration of work into table format. The types of work were spraying, mowing, and ploughing. Work data was combined in Excel with field parcel data from the field parcel register maintained by the Finnish Food Authority. A regression curve with R-program was adapted to the combined data using a second order logarithmized polynomial function to describe the relationship between parcel size and work efficiency. As a result, it was found that the currently used coefficients seem to underestimate the benefits of increasing block size, especially in larger, higher than 5 ha parcels. The work efficiency was better than in the previous studies, which is probably due to the increase in the average size and work efficiency of the machines. For smaller parcels, efficiency remained unchanged, thus it was weaker relative to large fields. Increasing parcel sizes through land consolidation and land exchange is one of the key measures to increase profitability. The study was conducted as part of Luke's KIVAPELTO project.