How Part-Time Farmers Differ

More than half of the farm and ranch operators in the United States work off the farm and more than one-third work off the farm or ranch over 200 days per year. The research categorized and compared groups of Ohio part-time farmers. Comparisons reported here are between the 31% designated as primarily farmers (farm prime) who worked part-time off the farm and hobby farmers (61% of the sample) who worked full-time off the farm. The other eight percent was a mix.

Significant differences found between the means of farm prime and hobby farmer groups were that the farm prime group was younger (42 vs 44.5 years old), had farm assets worth more ($312,000 vs $188,300), but had nonfarm assets worth less ($25,630 vs $70,160). The farm prime operators also had higher farm income ($18,514 vs negative $4,128) and nonwage income ($5,859 vs $2,823), but lower off-farm income ($7,574 vs $30,349). The farm prime group also had higher farm wages ($6.00 vs negative $4.00) and had a higher value of gross farm sales ($94,000 vs $25,000), but off-farm wage was the same ($14.00) for the farm prime and hobby farmer groups, as was total family income ($40,000).

As expected, the farm income of farm prime was highest and the off-farm income of hobby farmers was highest. However, economic factors such as total assets, owner equity, operator income, total family income, and operator and spouse off-farm wage weren't statistically different for the two groups. Similarity between these measures indicates that neither group was better off economically.

Determinants of farm and off-farm hours were also compared. The findings showed that the presence of livestock (especially dairy), debt, and flexible hour or 12-month, off-farm employment increased the farm hours spent. Also, a higher off-farm wage consistently corresponded with fewer work hours, both on and off the farm. This may be due to more preference for leisure with higher income, the ability to hire farm labor with higher income, or that higher off-farm wages resulted from fewer work hours with a constant salary. In addition, farm wages increased with gross farm sales, indicating increased returns to farm labor as farm size increased, even for part-time farmers.

The following conclusions between groups were duplicated in both analysis of variance and simultaneous questions analyses. First, hobby farmers' off-farm hours were fixed at 40 hours a week, while a negative relationship existed between farm and off- farm hours for the farm prime group. Second, flexible hour off- farm jobs resulted in increased work hours for the farm prime group, but no such increase was present for hobby farmers. Either farm prime have more affinity for work or hobby farmers don't consider hours spent on the farm to be work.

Third, monetary variables affected hobby farmers and not the farm prime group's farm work hours. It appears that farm work hours are expended if the farm is primary regardless of farm or nonoperator-family income, but that a negative relationship exists between farm and nonoperator-family income vs farm work hours if the off-farm work is primary. Fourth, an opposite relationship was found between gross farm sales and off-farm hours for both groups. Off-farm hours and farm sales complemented each other if the farm is primary, but conflicted if the off-farm work was more important. And fifth, if the farm is primary, the proceeds from off-farm work were invested in the farm to a higher degree than if the off-farm job was more important.

Among part-time farmers, this study supports a difference in the characteristics and labor allocation decision process between the farm prime and hobby farmer groups. For 60% of Ohio market employed farmers, off-farm hours were preallocated and this group was described as hobby farmers. This study and previous research have found that most part-time farmers are maximizing their economic and emotional well-being by working on and off the farm. However, different Extension programming is needed for those part -time farmers in the farm prime group and the for the full-time farmers, than is needed for the hobby farmers.