Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T01:19:16.721Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Farm Income Variability and the Supply of Off-Farm Labor by Limited-Resource Farmers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Oscar Vergara ,
Keith H. Coble ,
George F. Patrick ,
Thomas O. Knight  and
Alan E. Baquet
Oscar Vergara
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS
Keith H. Coble
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS
George F. Patrick
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Thomas O. Knight
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Alan E. Baquet
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We study the relationship between the off-farm labor decision and the limited-resource farmers' and spouses' off-farm wages, experience, education, and sources of income. We found that farmers' and spouses' off-farm experience and wages are significant factors in explaining the off-farm labor supply decision. Contrary to expectations, farm income variability is not significant in the farmers' and spouses' decision to seek off-farm work. The off-farm labor supply of farmers and their spouses is negatively correlated with income transfers from the government. It was also found that the spouse is a residual supplier of on-farm and off-farm labor.

Keywords

farm income variabilitylimited-resource farmeroff-farm workTobit regressionC34D19D81J15J22Q18
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , August 2004 , pp. 467 - 479
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beale, C. “African-American Farmers: Why Such a Severe and Continuing Decline?” Rural Development Perspectives. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, February 1991.Google Scholar
Corsi, A., and Findeis, J.. “True State Dependence and Heterogeneity in Off-Farm Labor Participation.” European Review of Agricultural Economics 27(2000):127–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dismukes, R., Harwood, J., and Bentley, S.. “Characteristics and Risk Management Needs of Limited-Resource and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, April 1997.Google Scholar
Dismukes, R., Harwood, J., and Hoppe, R.. “Limited-Resource Farmers: Their Risk Management Needs.” Agricultural Outlook. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, May 1997.Google Scholar
Effland, A., Hoppe, R., and Cook, P.. “Minority and Women Farmers in the U.S.” Agricultural Outlook. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, May 1998.Google Scholar
Goodwin, B., and Holt, M.. “Parametric and Semi Parametric Modeling of the Off-Farm Labor Supply of Agrarian Households in Transition Bulgaria.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 84(2002):184–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, W.Econometric Analysis, 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.Google Scholar
Harwood, J., Heifner, R., Coble, K., Perry, J., and Somwaru, A.. “Managing Risk in Farming: Concepts, Research, and Analysis.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Agricultural Economic Report 774, March 1999.Google Scholar
Hoppe, R. “Structural and Financial Characteristics of U.S. Farms:2001 Family Farm Report.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Agriculture Information Bulletin 768, May 2001.Google Scholar
Huffman, W. “Farm and Off-Farm Work Decisions: The Role of Human Capital.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 62(1980):14–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huffman, W., and Lange, M.. “Off-Farm Work Decisions of Husbands and Wives: Joint Decision Making.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 71(1989):471–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huffman, W., and El-Osta, H.. “Off-Farm Work Participation, Off-Farm Labor Supply and Off-Farm Labor Demand of U.S. Farm Operators.” Department of Economics, Staff Paper 290, Iowa State University, 1997.Google Scholar
Lass, D., and Gempesaw, C.. “The Supply of Off-Farm Labor: A Random Coefficient Approach.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 74(1992):400–08.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, J., and Moffitt, R.. “The Uses of Tobit Analysis.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 62(1980):318–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mishra, A., and Goodwin, B.. “Farm Income Variability and the Supply of Off-Farm Labor.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 79(1997):880–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mishra, A., and Holthausen, D.. “Effect of Farm Income and Off-Farm Wage Variability on Off-Farm Labor Supply.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 31(2002):187–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mishra, A., El-Osta, H., Morehart, M., Johnson, J., and Hopkins, J.. “Income, Wealth, and the Economic Weil-Being of Farm Households.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Agricultural Economic Report 812, July 2002.Google Scholar
Mishra, A., El-Osta, H., and Steele, C.. “Factors Affecting the Profitability of Limited-Resource and Other Small Farms.” Agricultural Finance Review 59(1999):77–91.Google Scholar
Mishra, A., and Sandretto, C.. “Stability of Farm Income and the Role of Nonfarm Income in U.S. Agriculture.” Review of Agricultural Economics 24(2002):208–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oluwole, A., and Findeis, J.. “An Econometric Analysis of Off-Farm Labor Participation Among U.S. Farm Families, 1977-1998.” Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University, 2001.Google Scholar
Perry, J., Hoppe, R., Green, E., Christensen, L., Greene, C., Handy, C., Koenig, S., Dodson, C., Young, E., Steele, C., and Raney, T.. “Small Farms in the U.S.” Agricultural Outlook. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, May 1998.Google Scholar
Reynolds, B. “Black Farmers in America 1865–2000: The Pursuit of Independent Farming and the Role of Cooperatives.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Business Cooperative Service, RBS Research Report 194, October 2002.Google Scholar
Schultz, P. “Estimating Labor Supply Functions for Married Women.” Female Labor Supply: Theory and Estimation. Smith, J.P., ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.Google Scholar
Sumner, D. “The Off-Farm Labor Supply of Farmers.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 64(1982):499–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swanson, L. “Racial-Ethnic Minorities in Rural Areas.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, April 1995.Google Scholar
Tokle, J., and Huffman, W.. “Local Economic Conditions and Wage Labor Decisions of Farm and Rural Non-Farm Couples.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 73(1991):652–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture. “A Time to Act: A Report of the National Commission on Small Farms.” Washington, DC: National Commission on Small Farms, January 1998.Google Scholar
Vergara, O., Coble, K., Knight, T., Patrick, G., and Baquet, A.. “Understanding Limited-Resource Farmers' Risk Management Decision Making: Summary and Preliminary Analysis.” Department of Agricultural Economics, AEC Research Report 2001-003, Mississippi State University, May 2001.Google Scholar