High-Yielding Varieties Robert W Herdt Edward A Baker With the dramatic increases in agricultural production in certain regions following the use of high- yielding varieties, interest has focused on the fortunes of agricultural labourers. On the one hand, there has been concern that the rising wages of agricultural labourers in certain areas may reflect an increasing scarcity of labour, entailing mechanisation of operations. On the other hand, there is the feeling that agricultural labourers have not received their due share in the benefits of the new technology, i-e, that wages have tended to stay constant despite the rising productivity.