SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS
DECEMBER, 1981
PART-TIME FARMING: PRODUCTIVITY AND SOME IMPLICATIONS
OF OFF-FARM WORK BY FARMERS
Surendra P. Singh and Handy Williamson, Jr.
The technological revolution in agriculture has
produced a structural transformation in farming
that has changed the face of rural America. With
improved technology and long-term U.S. eco-
nomic growth, one major adjustment has been a
reallocation of labor between farm and non-farm
labor markets. After 1948, long-term economic
forces created prospects of higher incomes in the
non-farm sector. As a result, a large proportion
of both white and black families ceased farming
and took non-farm jobs. However, a number of
other farm families have continued to work their
farms, but have also taken off-farm jobs to sup-
plement their income. Krasovec describes part-
time farming as a regular two-fold occupation of
the head of the family. That person may, on the
one hand, be working permanently in non-
agricultural industries either as an employee or
as an independent craftsman, merchant or
member of a profession, and on the other, in ag-
riculture on a holding not large enough to justify
a full-time occupation.
Throughout the U.S., the number of part-time
farmers who depend principally upon off-farm
sources of income has been increasing rapidly.
Nationally, the percentage of farm operators re-
porting any days off the farm (off-farm work)
rose from 33.9 percent in 1950 to 54.9 percent in
1974. The increasing number of part-time farmers
is particularly noteworthy, as the total number of
farm operators has declined during this period.
Today, nearly two out of three farm families re-
ceive more than half of their income from non-
farm sources. Moreover, for farmers with annual
gross sales of less than $20,000, non-farm income
accounts for more than 80 percent of total family
income (Buttel and Newby, p. 233). Thus far, the
growth of part-time farming has received only
scant official attention. Much of their output is
confined to specialty agricultural produce, and
their share of the total market is relatively small.
In the past, part-time farming was considered as
a transitional phenomenon between primarily ag-
ricultural and industrial economies. However,
with continued growth, it is now considered by
some to be a permanent phenomenon.
One of the major management problems of a
farmer is the combination and utilization of vari-
ous resources in such a way as to obtain the
greatest possible return. The resource combina-
tion yielding the highest dollar returns under a
given set of price and production conditions may
bring low returns under a different set of condi-
tions. Various factors may affect the number and
mix of farm enterprises on part-time farms, and
consequently, may create significant changes in
the factor productivities and production efficien-
cies (Bateman). If part-time farmers are using ag-
ricultural resources less efficiently,1 aggregate
production could suffer with increase in their
number or resources controlled by them. The
need for analyzing the effects of part-time farm-
ing on agricultural production and rural de-
velopment has been stressed by many in the past
(Bateman; Reinsel; Schneeberger and West).
The purpose of this paper is to: (1) determine
possible differences between production func-
tions on part-time and full-time farms, (2) deter-
mine differences in productivity levels as means
to appraise resource allocative efficiency, and (3)
discuss some implications of off-farm work by
farmers.
PREVIOUS RESEARCH
The terms “part-time farming” and “part-time
farmers” were perhaps first introduced and elab-
orated in a relatively comprehensive study in
Massachusetts by Rozman in 1930 (Fuller and
Mage, p. 6). Rozman defined a part-time farmer
as a farm operator who spent two or more
months per year in off-farm work. Since this
study was completed, part-time farming has been
the theme of several research efforts. It has been
and is being studied by researchers belonging to
various disciplines and, therefore, is the subject
of some controversy. The concept varies accord-
The authors are, respectively, Associate Professor, Department of Rural Development; and Director of Cooperative Agricultural Research Program,- Tennessee State
University.
The authors are indebted to Dr. F. S. Bagi for his help in analyzing the data and for helpful comments on an earlier draft of the article. The authors also appreciate the
constructive comments from the three anonymous Journal reviewers. However, authors are solely responsible for any shortcomings. Research leading to this paper was
funded, in part, by SEA∕CR, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through Tennessee State University.
l As indicated by one anonymous reviewer, some part-time farmers might have goals other than profit maximization. The primary income on these farms is generated off
the farm, and the farmer may be fulfilling needs other than economic with his farming activity.
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