Even when oilseeds (esterified, partially refined or crude) are used as diesel fuel extenders, the economic difficulty still persists and will continue until such time as diesel oil supplies begin to dwindle or until a more appropriate substitute fuel (renewable or nonrenewable) should emerge. Should diesel fuel supplies run out and an appropriate substitute fuel fail to emerge, tractors and other engine-driven equipment could convert to spark-ignition engines. These are more versatile in terms of fuel use (e.g. renewable alcohol, as well as nonrenewable hydrocarbons) even if less suited to the heavy workloads in agriculture.
Other things being equal, farming output will therefore fall (or grow more slowly), depending on the elasticity of final demand. Farmers mechanize, although they can seldom prevent some increase in their production cost. The best example of these trends comes from the United States after 1940. The use of tractors, combines, and other machines expanded at unprecedented rates. Although labor input per acre or per animal had declined a little between 1915 and 1939, it fell sharply after 1940.

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Even when oilseeds (esterified, partially refined or crude) are used as diesel fuel extenders, the economic difficulty still persists and will continue until such time as diesel oil supplies begin to dwindle or until a more appropriate substitute fuel (renewable or nonrenewable) should emerge. Should diesel fuel supplies run out and an appropriate substitute fuel fail to emerge, tractors and other engine-driven equipment could convert to spark-ignition engines. These are more versatile in terms of fuel use (e.g. renewable alcohol, as well as nonrenewable hydrocarbons) even if less suited to the heavy workloads in agriculture.
Other things being equal, farming output will therefore fall (or grow more slowly), depending on the elasticity of final demand. Farmers mechanize, although they can seldom prevent some increase in their production cost. The best example of these trends comes from the United States after 1940. The use of tractors, combines, and other machines expanded at unprecedented rates. Although labor input per acre or per animal had declined a little between 1915 and 1939, it fell sharply after 1940.

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