Maximum Possibility of Two Goods - Essay Example

The production possibility frontier is used to show a point where the production or the output of two goods is maximized. The two products must be essential and contribute positively to the growth of the economy. The resources contributing to the production should be efficiently used to bringing maximum possible combinations (Nicholson & Snyder, 2012). In this case, we have two products of concern. These are quality water and agricultural produce. We, therefore, need to get to the point of combination where there is increased farm productivity and at the same time have quality water, which is equally important.

It is definitely that for us increase the agricultural produce, and we must use chemical fertilizers, which in return pollute water. Therefore, we need to control the effects of fertilizers on water so that we get safe water. Pollution in water is caused by excess nitrogen in the fertilizers, which become leached or swept away to the water sources. To reduce the excess nitrogen, we can introduce nitrification inhibitors. They reduce the rate of converting ammonium nitrogen to nitrates (Sharpe, 1990). The nitrates are therefore produced at a slow pace similar to the rate in crops are absorbing. This ensures that there is no excess of nitrates in the soil that can be leached into the underground water to cause pollution. The nitrification inhibitor brings in the increase of output on both axis. The quality of water is maintained since there are no excess chemicals that cause pollution and at the same time, the crops have their nutrients. In fact, the agricultural production increases significantly because the nutrients are absorbed to the maximum. Therefore, the production possibility frontier is achieved with the introduction of the new good in the production process.

Apart from using the new good in the production possibility frontier, there is also the need to address the real cause of the problem. Excess nutrients cause the challenge of reduced water quality as mentioned above in the fertilizers that are left to run to the water sources or leaching to the groundwater. Rather than introducing nitrogen inhibitors to counter the rate of nitrates release, there is need to consider improving the fertilizers. This can be achieved through balancing the level of nutrients in the fertilizers with the size of the land for production. This will ensure that there are no excess nutrients that are washed away into waterways. The effects of this are indeed significant on the agricultural produce, quality of water and at the same time, the overall expenses incurred in production. The production possibility frontier requires that maximum benefit is realized if the outputs are maximized but the inputs are at low levels possible. There are no economies of scale in any production sector if the benefits that are realized are high but with more other side effects. Resources used in production matters a lot in any production process (Nicholson & Snyder, 2012). The move is geared merely at ensuring maximum economies of scale. When the fertilizers are improved by minimizing the levels of nutrients like nitrogen, the production cost of fertilizers reduces and vice versa. As a result, the price of fertilizers goes down too. Therefore, general expenses in realizing well-improved farm produce are greatly minimized. The move has three impacts on the production possibility frontier.

References Nicholson, W., & Snyder, C. (2012).Microeconomic theory: Basic principles and extensions. Mason, Ohio: South-Western/Cengage Learning.

Sharpe, R. R. (1990). Use of nitrification inhibitors and growth regulators for nitrogen fertilizer management in wheat production.