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Small Farm Businesses: A Typology of Farm, Operator, and Family Characteristics with Implications for Public Research and Extension Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

Frederick H. Buttel  and
Michael E. Gertler
Frederick H. Buttel
Affiliation:
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Michael E. Gertler
Affiliation:
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
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Abstract

Data from a 1979 New York survey were analyzed to develop a systematic multivariate typology of small farmers (i.e., operators of small farm businesses) which would be useful in designing and targeting public programs. Farm business size, operator's age, and off-farm employment were the most important dimensions of variation. A typology was constructed by successive dichotomization of low and moderate sales volume farms; operators 49 years of age and under, and 50 and over; and families with and without off-farm income. Means for economic and social indicators were computed for each of the resulting eight categories. Low sales volume farm families with relatively old operators and without off-farm employment were found to experience very low total family incomes. Suggestions are made regarding how public extension and research programs may be developed and targeted with specific categories of the most needy small farmers in mind.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , Spring 1982 , pp. 35 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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Footnotes

This research was supported by funds from the Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station. J. Patrick Madden, B. F. Stanton, and Catheryn Obern provided helpful comments on a previous draft of this paper. We also appreciate the assistance of Linda A. Buttel in the data analysis. An extended version of this paper (Buttel, 1981), which contains greater detail on measurement procedures, is available from the senior author upon request.

References

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