Efficiency in production of butter : being an investigation into certain factors affecting the economic aspects of technical efficiency of butter factories operating in New Zealand, with special reference to the1949/50 season : a thesis presented to the University of New Zealand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Abstract

New Zealand's economy is dependent on dairying as a source of national income to a very marked degree, for more than one-third of the country's total export income is derived from this source. Of the total whole milk produced *at the pail* in the 1952-53 season, over 68 per cent was manufactured into creamery butter, yielding 200,000 tons. A revenue in excess of £52,000,000 was derived from this butter. A processing industry of this magnitude and importance merits close attention. Although much time and research have been devoted to technical manufacturing problems, very little analytical work has been conducted in New Zealand on the economic aspect of efficiency in dairy processing industry. Although data are available in the form of reports, compiled statistics and articles, they are descriptive in character, or mere compilations. As such they fail in the important task of analysis of the conditions they describe. It seems strange that in a country like New Zealand where the standard of scientific reasearch is so high and where the dairy industry contributes so much to the national economy, that so little is known of the economic aspects of the dairy industry. Apart from TASKER's two papers TASKER, J.P. (1938;: The Cost and Capitalization of North Auckland creameries during 1935-36. The Accountants' J. (August) - New Zealand Creamery Costs and Pay-outs for the 1937-38 Season. N.Z.Jnl. of Science and Technology, Vol. 26. Np.4 (Sec. A), PP. 204-213, 1944. the amount of analytical research is almost nil. The valuable information compiled by the New Zealand Dairy Board is largely descriptive and statistical and does not throw light upon the problems as investigated by research workers in this field overseas. See Appendix A: "Related Studies".