The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a Relannian newspaper.

Industry analysts report that the number of dairy farms in Relanna has increased by 25 percent over the last decade. Also, recent innovations in milking technology make it possible for farmers to significantly increase the efficiency of the milking process, allowing them to collect more milk in less time with minimal human intervention. In fact, data from the Relannian Department of Agriculture indicate that labor costs at the majority of Relannian dairy farms are actually lower now than they were ten years ago. Despite increased efficiency and lower labor costs, a carton of cream — a dairy product made from milk — at the local food market costs twice as much as it did two years ago. The only explanation for this dramatic price increase is that farmers are inflating the price of cream to increase their profits.

Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument.


In the following argument, the author concludes that the farmers are inflating the price of the cream to increase their profits. The author gives evidence by mentioning the increase in efficiency and low labor cost. However, the assumptions made by the author are weak and lack evidence.

Firstly, the author states that farmers can increase their efficiency of the milking process by adapting to innovations and techniques. This assumption is weak as the innovation in milking techniques require new equipment that might be very costly. So, every farm owner might not have enough funds to buy the new and updated equipment to increase their efficiency in the milking process. To to be more clear, the author could have targeted farms which have a high turnover and those farms who could afford to buy the new technology.

Furthermore, the author asserts that the data from the Relannian dairy farms are lower compared to the prices ten years back. The author’s statement lacks evidence as there is no proper statistical data mentioned to prove that the labor cost is lower compared to the previous years. The author should have provided relevant data with prices that were established ten years back and the current price of the labor. So, that might help to easily determine the difference in the prices of the labors.

Finally, the author mentions that despite increased efficiency and low-cost labor, the price of a carton is still expensive. This is a weak assumption by the author as the price of the cream can be high due to other factors like low demand or the transportation cost can be high.
To conclude, the author’s assumptions are weak but they could be strengthened by proving more viable facts and data that satisfy the assumptions and make the author’s statements more cogent.