Determinants of off-farm work and its effects on farm performance: the case of Norwegian grain farmers

摘要

Limited attention has been given in the literature to the impact of off-farm work on farm performance. More knowledge about the determinants of part-time farming and its effects on farm performance could help policymakers to introduce better targeted rural development policies. The aim in this article is to fill part of the above-mentioned gaps by analyzing factors that influence the choices of off-farm work by either the farmer alone or jointly by both the farmer and partner; and simultaneously examining how off-farm work influences farm performance. These analyses were based on an unbalanced panel data set from Norwegian grain farms during 1991 to 2005. Among the determinants of off-farm work hours, we found that, in addition to demographic, time trend, and some regional effects, there was a significant negative effect of farm output on farmers' off-farm work hours. The production function results revealed that off-farm work had a positive effect on farm output, at first increasing but then decreasing with increase in hours spent in off-farm work. Furthermore, our analysis revealed no systematic effect of off-farm work on farm technical efficiency.