ABSTRACT
In Canada, part-time farming has a long history, going back to the early French settlements of the 16th century. From this long-run perspective the idea of the "full-time family farm" is a historical aberration, even though it has been the basis of Canadian agricultural policy during the last 80 years. In North America the conceptual literature on part time farming goes back at least to the 1930s, and theories about the motivation for seeking off-farm income have evolved through time. In the agricultural economics profession for some time the leading perspective on the role of off-farm labor has been that it serves as a supplement to farm income. As the share of farm income coming from small farms steadily declined, the parallel ideas of opportunity and necessity emerged as a way to explain the persistence of this growing share of farms. It is important to recognize that there are multiple motives for allocating operator labor to off-farm employment.
