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THE SPREAD OF PART-TIME FARMS AND PROBLEMS OF THEIR INVESTIGATION
Stane Krašovec
Sažetak
In the first theoretical section the author regrets that economic theory and
economic policy of all schools ignore or at least neglect such 'impure' phenomena
as are part-time agricultural/non-agricultural farms. With economic development
their number is rapidly increasing and this leads to various consequences which
tend to be neglected or ignored by theory. However Marxist economic thought
should give them more attention.
As is known, Marx investigated what is called pure or abstract capitalism with
its three basic classes: capitalists, workers, and land-owners. It was only this abstraction
from a multitude of individual, unessential non-average and untypical elements,
independently from governmental interference, that enabled him to discover
the fundamental laws of capitalism. However, he did not limit himself to that alone
but also investigated (especially in »Capital« I I I ) concrete capitalism and industrial,
commercial and financial bourgeoisie and its environment and historical appearance
under the influence of numerous other economic and non-economic, sociological
and political factors. Similarly, Lenin analysed the development of capitalism
in Russia in the light of concrete geographical and historical conditions; however
he believed that capitalist elements often derive from various non-capitalist and
non-conomic circumstances. Even the regular mechanism of capitalist economic growth is based on an untypical
factor, — the »extra surplus-value«, which derives from the exploitation of
new technical invenions until the inventions become generally applied. Thus this
exceptional factor tended to promote general progress.
Another exceptional factor is the value and price of labour. Originally this
was established on the basis of the value of the means of subsistence of the worker
and his family, but with the introduction of machinery it has been devaluated and
reduced to the value of means of subsistence of the worker alone. In the recent
stage of economic development and full employment, the shorter working day and
higher wages allow the employment of several family members and a higher evaluation
of each individual, and this leads to a comparatively high level of family
income and increased spending in general. The author feels that the effects of
this family income on the market, on the purchase power, on the consumers’ preferences
and choices, on the elasticity of consumer goods, and on Engels’s laws
have not been adequately studied, especially in the conditions of poor, non-developed
regions with a highly irregular employment of individual members of
the family.
The author then goes on to discuss the special combination of multiple job-
-holding, the combination of agricultural with non-agricultural occupations within
one household or, more precisely, of work on the farm and work outside it. This
phenomenon which generally accompanies the economic development of agriculture,
calls for a wider investigation of its importance and implications and especially
for a reply to the question whether it is an obstacle to, or a promoter of, economic
growth on a national scale. Local monographs, descriptions and micro-economic
studies on the subject are already available.
The author stresses the substantial differences between the standards of living
of part-time and agricultural/non-agricultural households in the past (when the
classical peasants/workers formed the poorest population strata) and nowadays
(when they are among the wealthiest people in rural areas). In the past their characteristics
were a long working day, a long walk to the place of work, and a heavy
work load on the housewife, while nowadays, at least in developed countries, the situation
is different: a shorter working day and a short working week, quick and
often free transportation to the job, electricity and labour-saving devices in the
home, public care for children, and a higher level of earnings from employment
outside the farm, — all of which makes possible saving and investment in the
holding.
The author excludes from his study large agricultural holdings linked with
non-agricultural activities, considering them simply a vertical concentration of capital;
he also excludes the garden plots of kolkhoz peasants as not belonging into
the category of small part-time farmers and workers/peasants.
Since lack of statistical information is one of the main obstacles to economic
research in this field, the author, in the second section of the study, deals with
the methodological difficulties in establishing the number of part-time farms or
agricultural holdings with an additional, external income. Until recently nothing
reliable could be said about them on an international level. However, the situation
has substantially improved since the 1970 World Census of Agriculture, although
the respective data are not very comparable between different countries, especially
those with different types of census and enquiry. This is demonstrated by instances
from France and Yugoslavia: the differences were due to the non-uniformity of
definitions and types of census.
One of the main problems is the wide distribution of twin occupations:
(a) In most Western countries (particularly in the English or German speaking
region) only one type is recognized, i. e. where the farm serves as a supplementary,
secondary occupation (the real »part-time farm«, »der landwirtschaftliche Nebenerwerbsbetrieb
«; this type corresponds to the »part-time farm type II« in Japanese
literature);
(b) In certain other countries those persons are also regarded as multiple-job-
-holders whose main occupation is farming but who also earn a certain amount of
income outside the farm either by part-time or by full-time work (»peasant/worker«,
»der landwirtschaftliche Zuerwerbsbetrieb«; this type corresponds to the »part-time farm type I« in Japanese literature). The author believes it is wrong to ignore »type
b« and include it among full-time »pure« farmers, but he admits that in agricultural
censuses it is difficult to identify holdings of type »b«.
The second difficulty is the selection of a criterion for identification: working
time (man-days, man-hours) or income? Different criteria lead to different results.
The author is in favour of a combination of both criteria, as this is done
in the German and Belgian censuses.
The third problem is the question whose work should be considered: the work
of the holder alone (U. S., Canada), of the holder and/or his wife, or of other active
members of the household. The author supports the last alternative. The first criterion
is to some extent corrected by considering the value of the sale of products.
Most of the European censuses, however, make possible a detailed insight into
the activity structure of the family.
The third section contains statistics showing trends in the number and distribution
of part-time farms in the U. S., Canada, Germany, France and Japan
and some data on Yugoslavia, while the fourth section discusses the statistical
data.
As regards the well-known issue whether part-time farms is a phenomenon
which accompanies a low level of economic development marked by low-income
agriculture and low-income industry, but which disappears in the higher stages
of economic growth, the author believes that recent development have refuted
this view. In countries with a high average size of farm such as North America
and Oceania the absolute number both of farms and of part-time farms is decreasing.
The same applies to the developed regions of Central and Western Europe with
their traditionally overpopulated, small-sized agricultural holdings whose adjustment
to the new situation is slowed down to some extent by interventionary measures.
Nevertheless, the number of marginal medium-sized farms continues increasing,
and the link between part-time farms and farms with supplementary income
earned outside the holding (.Nebenerwerbsbetriebe and Zuerwerbsbetriebe) is established
on a higher level. Thus part-time farms as an institution are inevitable concomitants
of economic growth at its various levels. As an individual phenomenon,
however, the part-time farm is generally abandoned (or turned into a garden plot) in
the third or fourth generations. (However, there exist certain regions where the
tradition of part-time farming is maintained for several generations (e. g. wine
growing for prestige reasons), certain mining regions, etc.)
The f i f t h section contains the author's views on part-time farms or with supplementary
sources of income:
(a) Productivity of part-time farms. Although a nation’s agricultural supply
cannot rely on these farms, and although these farms are generally below the level
of productivity of 'purely' agricultural farms of comparable size, the productivity
of part-time farms under certain conditions can become equal or even higher than
is that of the corresponding category of purely agricultural farms. This is particularly
true if more of the money earned outside the farm is invested in agriculture
and if the holder concentrates on the market production of only a few instead of
many different crops. Here the principles of economies of scale have only a comparative
value, and the author believes this to be fully compatible with Marx's
teachings;
(b) Competition in the market. In low-income countries, production on part-
-time farms appears to have a promoting effect on industrialization because it lessens
the need for food imports and saves the country considerable foreign exchange
funds. In certain developed countries, part-time farmers are made responsible for
overproduction and the fall of market prices. The real problem, however, is not
only one of reducing production but also of financing the distribution as long as
the total world food production continues to be exceeded by demand;
(c) The acceleration exodus of part-time farmers and small full-time farmers
leaves some less fertile, especially hilly regions deserted and exposed either to soil
erosion or to a wild growth of bushes and woods. The EEC countries are trying
to control the situation by various measures including the introduction of suitable
local industries for part-time farmers, the development of tourism, etc.; (d) The existence of part-time farms and the daily commuting from villages
to towns and industrial centres helps to relieve some of the tensions between rural
and urban areas and may help to reduce differences between town and country in
die future. Tn the most highly developed countries a »back to land« movement has
recently been spreading among certain strata of the population;
(e) Taking it all in all, small part-time farms offer many factors which can
have a favourable effect on the processes of economic development and industrialization
and on the development of a socialist society. It should be the task of economists,
sociologists, politicians and legislators to see that this stratum is not left
without assistance and long-term orientation, and to establish and promote those
favourable elements which are likely to speed up national development and well being.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
118951
URI
Datum izdavanja:
10.12.1974.
Posjeta: 1.041 *