Structure And Operation Of Family Farms

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Ques 1:

Till the onset of the 1990’s the common belief across the world was that farming is a 24 x 7 job. In other words, a person fully dedicated in agricultural activities and farming can be addressed as a farmer. The moment, the person starts to opt for other work that are not necessary on the farm, he or she would be believed to be moving away from being a farmer. It was primarily important for a person to be called a farmer by being engrossed in only farming related work all day long. However, with the changes in the economic stature across the world, farmers started to opt for other non farming related jobs on a part time basis.

Slowly and gradually, these part time farmers were accepted within the community. This dual and diverse work is described as Pluriactvity. This word can be traced from the French Dictionary. However, a few places across the world like Germany and Japan enjoyed the fruits of pluriactvity from an earlier age. They realized that family farms where the farm workers did diverse kind of work, both on the field as well as off field earn better than other farms were waged workers were involved.

Structure and Operation of Family Farms, Smaller Farms and peasant forms of agriculture in today’s world:

First and foremost, when we are talking about the Family farms , it is important to mention the Chayanov’s theory on the subject. As per the presentation, a family farm is one where primarily the family members are known to work and run the farm. In today’s modern context, a lot of expertise and training may be required to run the show on the farm. In such cases, they might have to hire waged labor, contractors or even a group of laborers in order to get the work done. Though, outside labor is generally hired only by the large dimension family farms. The control and management purview of the family farm is always with the members of the family alone. On the other hand, those farms that are run solely with the help of waged labors are known as a capitalist farm. In case of a family farm the family members look for outsourced or waged workers in case of some specific jobs that they might not have the skill or specialization to perform. However, at the end of the day, the reins of the farm are firmly held by the family member’s alone.

Another important observation on family farms has been highlighted by Hill in 1993. He worked on the figures provided by the Unions of the European country and deduced that as many as 98% of the farms in the European region are run by individuals alone. He used the same data to conclude that only those farms where almost 95% of the yearly work has been performed by the family members actually qualify as being termed as a family farm.

Also it is important to note that it is not necessary for family farms to produce all their needs themselves. They might just produce a part of their needs and source rest from others. As long as the management of the farm is within the family members, it can be safely termed as a family farm.

Now, that we know what is meant by family farms, we can safely move on to small scale family farmers. These are found all across the world and are often referred to as peasants. In the bygone days in England, small scale family farmers were looked down upon. The British were known to be endowed with special titles that entitled them to huge plots of land , which was used for farming. This is when they used to appoint these small scale farmers or peasants in perform the daily chores of the farm. However, in today’s world no small scale farmer is referred to as a peasant. This concept is not relevant in today’s modern and developed countries across the world. In fact in the modern world, they have been replaced by large scale and industrial based farms. Though the concept of peasants is not used in today’s era, Freidman in his works in the year 1980 described them in a negative light. She commented that farmers working in a smaller were referred to as poisons in French and campesinos in Spanish. Both together have given birth to the word peasant.

Ques2:

Pluriactivity is a word that is known to have its roots in French. It refers to the dual nature of work that farmers are usually known to undertake. In the early and mid nineties it was believed that for a person to be referred to as a farmer, one need to ensure that they partake in agricultural and other farming related activities alone and nothing else.

So, in case if the farmer is known to opt for other non farming related works, then it is considered that the person is not a farmer. However, with the passage of time and from the 1980’s the whole concept of farming changed. People have realized and woken up to the fact that farmers in today’s world can only survive by doing a dual kind of job. In such scenarios the farmers are known to opt for various kinds of odd jobs and part time jobs that are not necessarily in relations to farming.

Here are 2 examples that explain how and why they demonstrate pluriactivity in relation to small, family, or peasant farm.

Pluriactivity in Norway:

There are various places in Norway where people are known to undertake both fishing and farming jobs. In such regions, both fishing and farming options are galore. Naturally, the people in the region are known to indulge in both the activities. Hence, pluriactivity is prevalent in Norway. Post the Second World War a lot of emphasis was given to family farming; people was known to concentrate only on farming related jobs and no outside job. However, soon people started opting for other jobs too and pluriactiviity was opted for. Recent research shows that almost 75% of the farms are into dual kind of income. Though there are a few pure family farms that indulge in no other activity than farming, most of the farms are known to have people who indulge in outside work in order to earn some extra money. The percentage of family farms in Norway were known to come down from 39% to 31 % in a span of 30 years ending 1979. People started to rely more on out of farming job opportunities that gave them the chance to earn quick money and in some cases steady source of income. Changing economic rules, high cost of dual profession and changing monetary conditions have also impacted pluriactivity in Norway in more than one way.

Pluriactivity in Rural sections of Sri Lanka.

Pandya Lorch and Braun in their works in 1992 have come up with the fact that rural people are not solely dependent on farming. The biggest issue with farming is the fact that it is unstable in terms of income. The rural people are known to be indulging in various kinds of farming related work but still, that does not mean that the people do not work for other jobs. The survey conducted in the year 1999 to 2000 that people in rural sectors are known to comprise of as many as 56% of the total rural population. On the other hand, the percentage of people opting for agriculture and other related activities is known to comprise of as many as 23 % only. Most of the families in the rural sector of Sri Lanka are known to opt for more than one kind of work. Thanks to these multiple jobs, their standard of living and capacity to earn has increased by a few notches. Farmers in this region are known to look for various other kinds of job opportunities in order to increase their family income and improve their standard of living. As per the famous work of Evan and Ilbery of 1993, pluriactivity is known to be a state when farming and other non farming activities are done together by a person. This will help to eradicate poverty amongst the rural people of Sri Lanka.

In recent times pluriactivity has become a common phenomenon is large, small and peasant farms. Specifically in small, family and peasant farms, people are known to opt for these multiple jobs in order to ensure that they have a steady source of income throughout the year. The fact that farming in terms of income generation on a regular basis can be uncertain, hence it is important for the farmers to look out for other avenues through which they can generate income for themselves and their family members. These people are regularly opting for pluriactivity and benefiting from it day after day .