Premium
‘Does Farming Pay in V ictoria?’ Profit Potential of the Farming Industry in Mid‐Nineteenth‐Century V ictoria
Author(s) -
Ostapenko Dmytro
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
australian economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.493
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1467-8446
pISSN - 0004-8992
DOI - 10.1111/aehr.12034
Subject(s) - agriculture , profit (economics) , competition (biology) , contract farming , economics , agricultural economics , market economy , business , economic history , economy , geography , ecology , archaeology , neoclassical economics , biology
The conventional view of the fortunes of E uropean newcomers who cropped land in mid‐nineteenth‐century V ictoria is confined to a description of their difficulties. This article critically assesses the scope for profit‐making in the local farming sector in the late 1830s to early 1870s. The microeconomic environment in which early colonial farmers operated is reconstructed in this article with the use of modern M ichael P orter's five forces of competition model. The article shows the high profit potential of crop farming – even when on a small scale – throughout the period, with the exception of the last few years when intensified competition among farmers affected their profits.