ABSTRACT
The socio-economic situation of family farms and farming families remains public concern, and hence a public policy concern, in most countries. This chapter aims to review the nexus of family farms and farming families in Canada. One interesting question, at least in a Canadian context, is, Who wants data on off-farm income of operators of households associated with an agricultural holding? Rural development is important for the well being of a significant share of households associated with an agricultural holding. If one-half of the earnings of the household associated with an agricultural holding is derived from the farm, then one-half is being generated by other household members who are working elsewhere. The vast majority of census-farms in Canada are "family farms”. Males in census-farm operator households have shown some shift in labour supply from a farm occupation to non-farm occupations–but most of the shift in the labour supplied by census-farm operator households has been by women.
