Abstract

Developments in modern agriculture have led to doubts regarding the long-term viability of current production systems. The changing structure of the Irish farming sector is part of a European wide trend where the emerging model of agriculture is one comprised of a small number of highly developed commercial farmers and a larger number of rural households who obtain income both on and off the farm. Early studies viewed the take up of off-farm employment as a temporary adjustment process- a way of supplementing farm income when it was low, but that view has been replaced over the last decade by research that notes its persistence over time. The importance of assessing the effect of this trend is manifold. Off-farm employment among farm households affects farm organisation, the future structure of agriculture, public policies to aid farming families, public policies to maintain rural communities and the delivery of educational and training services to the farming sector.

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