ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with all categories of people working in farming farmers and other farm family members, and permanent and casual employees and the use of general terms such as farm labour, and working in farming includes all these categories. It also deals specifically with changes in farm labour. Many farm families identified themselves strongly with their farm, which had often been inherited over many generations, and made far-reaching efforts to continue farming by supplementing their incomes or accepting a lower standard of living. Among these farm households the increased prioritization of urban-industrial development and the relative downgrading of farming contrasted sharply with the war crisis years, when agriculture had been widely appreciated among politicians and ordinary people. Due to the small-scale character of Swedish farming, it can be assumed that the decline in hired labour took place primarily at bigger farms whereas smaller farms generally speaking were operated without hired labour.
