BB—Lancaster Farming, Friday, July 3,1981
Part-time farmers increase
We may be making a serious
mistake by trying to determine
how well farmers are doing by
looking at average farm income.
First of all, it’s an average,
which can be terribly unreliable. It
doesn’t take into account the in
creasing value of a farmer’s
business. And even more im
portantly, it doesn’t measure the
off-farm income that surprisingly
amounts to more than farm in
come.
That’s right—farm families
actually earn more money away
from the farm than they do on the
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farm. Slightly more than half of
the farm sector’s total income is
from off-farm sources.
A third of all U.S. farms rely on
off-farm jobs for more than 90
percent of family income. They
produce a very small amount of
farm commodities, but they’re still
farms and they’re still averaged in
when it comes time to figure
average farm income.
There’s pretty good evidence
pointing out that off-farm jobs tend
to be a very stabilizing influence in
agriculture, helping farmers even
out the ups and downs of good
Marjorie Green
Flemington, NJ
M ajorie Green, who
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RD I Box 48
Du shore. PA 18614
717-928*8714
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years and bad.
Off-tarm incomes, which in
many cases amount to part-time
farming, make many farmers
virtually immune to the economic
problems of agriculture. In truth,
most of these kinds of operators
consider farming a way of life and
would continue to live there and
operate their farms even if they
weren’t making money.
And so we have two kinds of
farmers emerging as we head
toward the next century. Those
who are growing ever larger and
stronger and who are producing
more and more of the nation’s food
output, and those who are clinging
to an agricultural way of life
through off-farm opportunities.
There are still many caught in the
middle who will perhaps make a
decision in the near future,
whether they are going to be in or
out of big-time agriculture. But as
the figures show, many of them
already aren’t that dependent on
farm income.
It’s obvious that if more than
half of the farm sector’s total in
come is derived from off-fat m
sources, then less than halt must
come from farming. And that’s
pretty silly when you stop to think
about it.
It means that, on the average,
farming is a part-time business—
that it produces less than half of
the average farm family’s income.
It’s been described as the most
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important job in this country, with
dozens of people depending on the
output of each farm worker. And
yet, it’s a part-time job.
This set of circumstances leaves
me with the feeling there’s plenty
of opportunity for change in
agriculture over the next few
decades. If more than half the
farm sector’s total income is
derived from off-farm sources,
that means a lot of farm family
interests and energies are devoted
to something else. And that spells
opportunity for the farm family
that can concentrate on farming.
The family whose skills, talents
and time are available around the
clock right there on the farm can
probably move ahead at a much
faster pace than a family with
members going off to town to work
regular jobs. Farmer with no other
income realize they must make it
on the farm and take the necessary
action. They add enterprises that
utilize family labor. They cull and
replace low producing livestock.
They plant crops that fit in with
family labor patterns and they do
not shy away from challenges that
tie them to the farm.
Obviously, they are more at the
mercy of the perils of agriculture.
They’re more vulnerable to dry
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weather, low prices, insect out
breaks, and the continuing cost
price squeeze. But they’re also in a
better position to do something
about some of those problems.
It must be comforting for far
mers to have good jobs in town so
the good things of life continue
even in a disastrous crop year. But
in today's big-time agriculture, is
it realistic to divide the important
labor management resources
between farm and off-farm in
terests?
The figures I’ve seen don’t say
that big farmers have no off-farm
income. But they do indicate that
large operators are less likely to
have other sources of income than
small operations, who by then
very size are forced to have other
income.
No doubt there are many far
mers, especially young ones, with
off-farm incomes who are moving
ahead in agriculture with the hope
of eventually devoting full-time to
fanning. And that’s a decision they
must look at very carefully.
When do they give up the com
fort of an extra income to sink or
swim in farming? It’s a decision
that’s easy to put off, but one that
could be costing them in the long
rim.
Cslaroarl
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KENDALL LD—22
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