This paper analyzes the effects of returns to scale, farm-size, technical, allocative, and scale inefficiencies on the profitability of Utah dairy farms. It derives the conditions necessary to compare the profitability of farms within and between different size classifications as small, medium, and large. Some comparative static results regarding increases in input prices and a decrease or withdrawal of price support on profitability of small, medium, and large farms are presented.

Subal C. Kumbhakar, Arunava Bhattacharyya, Price Distortions and Resource-Use Efficiency in Indian Agriculture: A Restricted Profit Function Approach, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 74, No. 2 (May, 1992), pp. 231-239

Subal C. Kumbhakar, Basudeb Biswas, DeeVon Bailey, A Study of Economic Efficiency of Utah Dairy Farmers: A System Approach, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 71, No. 4 (Nov., 1989), pp. 595-604