Bo Öhlmér

Design of economic information. A pilot study of accounting information in decision-making processes

Accounting information is developed for an analytic decision-making process, whereas many farmers use an intuitive process. The aim is to determine the decisions and parts of the decision-making that farmers use for accounting information, and to what extent accounting information would be more useful if it was designed to fit the decision-making process used. A limited sample of milk-producing farmers in Uppsala County, Sweden, was studied. For detecting scale problems, the values of the financial statement were of primary importance and the design of the profit and loss statement was of secondary importance. For detecting efficiency problems, the values of the profit and loss statement were most important, the content of the commentary information was the second most important, and the design of the financial statement was the third most important. Farmers using an intuitive decision-making process perceived problem detection to be easier if the information was designed to fit the intuitive process. However, farmers using an analytic decision-making process did not perceive problem detection to be easier if the accounting information was designed to fit the analytic process. Also they valued the information designed for the intuitive process.

On-farm computers for farm management in Sweden: potentials and problems

The potential uses of on-farm computers in management and the problems in these uses are analyzed. The analysis is based on a study of present uses of on-farm computers in Sweden. The results are compared with experiences from other countries. On-farm computer owners use almost the same management methods as before the computer investment. The main difference is that they used to hire service organizations to do some of the management tasks and now they are doing it by themselves with the aid of the computer. Thus, the on-farm computer owners have to have the same knowledge level as the service agents and advisers. The use of on-farm computers has so far affected the processing and storage of data for farm management purposes. A potential next step is communication of data from external computer systems at suppliers, customers, advisers and other farmers as well as automated data capture within the farm. One hindrance for this development is the lack of standardization of data and concept definitions. If this potential was realized the marginal costs of data and information would decrease. It would be profitable to use more information in the farm management, i.e. to develop the farm management functions. When farmers develop their management methods they will need still more knowledge. Service agents and advisers would have to change from doing management tasks for farmers to teaching farmers how to do these tasks and supporting farmers in the interpretation and analysis of information.

The influence of values on strategic choices: the choice of organic milk production by Swedish farmers.

Abstract Previous studies of the influence of values on the decision making of farmers have treated the choice process as a black box. This study is focused on information collection, information analysis, planning action(s), choice of action and taking responsibility by farmers, using the choice of organic milk production as a case. A hypothetical model was constructed using survey data and structural equation modelling. Economic values were important, but farmers had also other significant value orientations. The study demonstrates that values have an important influence, not in evaluating consequences, but in other parts of the decision-making process. The values affected the way of processing data to information, paying attention to information and forecasting consequences, which all preceded and, thus, successively directed the choice of options. Values also affected the implementation of the choice. These findings are important in order to understand and predict farmers’ decisions and support their management.

Towards a conceptual framework in unitary economics: An extension of a proposition after John O'Brien

Purpose – The object of this paper is to demonstrate that the promotion of altruistic behavior can in fact be regarded as an instrument of public policy. Design/methodology/approach – This objective is achieved by adapting the standard theory of consumer behavior in microeconomics to the context of an individual who is exposed to the pursuit of altruistic and self-fulfilling egoistical goals. Findings – The conceptualization permits the distinction between types of welfare benefits that emerge from the pursuit of these different goals and demonstrate the presence of a welfare benefit transformation frontier. The framework permits the evaluation of policy instruments such as tax incentives and legislations to promote altruistic behavior. Originality/value – The paper combines concepts in behavioral economics with those in standard microeconomics to demonstrate policy measures that are usually not considered within policy circles.

A decentralized farm planning method:Planning of the annual activities on a farm with milk, beef and crop production

In this article a manual method of farm planning is introduced for the planning of farms with several production sectors which are linked by intermediate products and common use of fixed resources. A decentralized type of model has been developed in which the plans for the different sectors of production of a Swedish firm — milk production, beef production and crop production — are suboptimized on the basis of estimated internal prices for intermediate products and common fixed resources. The optimal overall farm plan is then developed by an iterative procedure of adjustment of the internal prices on basis of the shadow prices. The approach enables one to solve the planning problems of the separate sectors of the farm in a way which is better adapted to the specific planning characteristics of each production sector and in better agreement with the procedures for establishing efficient input output relations in fertilizing, feeding etc. It identifies the decisions for which the connections between the different farm sectors have to be taken into account. It can be used by farmers and farm advisers for manual farm planning as well as in computerized farm planning service systems.