how a supply curve works
the supply curve will move upward from left to right illustrating the law of supply as the price of a given commodity increases the quantity supplied will increase all else being equal note that this formulation implies that price is the independent variable and quantity is the dependent variable in most disciplines the independent variable appears on the horizontal or x axis but economics is an exception to this rule if a factor besides price or quantity changes a new supply curve needs to be drawn for example say that more soybean farmers enter the market clearing forests and increasing the amount of land devoted to soybean cultivation in this scenario more soybeans will be produced even if the price remains the same meaning that the supply curve itself shifts to the right s2 in the graph below in other words supply will increase technology is a leading cause of supply curve shifts other factors can shift the supply curve as well such as a change in the price of production if a drought causes water prices to spike the curve will shift to the left s3 if the price of a substitute crop such as corn increases farmers will shift to growing that instead and the supply of soybeans will decrease s3 if a new technology such as a pest resistant seed increases yields the supply curve will shift right s2 if the future price of soybeans is higher than the current price the supply will temporarily shift to the left s3 since producers have an incentive to wait to sell supply curve example