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Labor
Use by Small Conventional and Sustainable Farmers in Tennessee
Fisseha
Tegegne, Surendra P. Singh, Enefiok Ekanem, Safdar Muhammad, and Sam
Comer
Cooperative
Agricultural Research Program
Seminar Series
Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN
April 21,
1999
Introduction. Research dealing with off-farm
labor use is extensive, while studies pertaining to on-farm labor use
have been very limited. The issue becomes especially critical given the
growing emphasis being placed by the USDA and others on the need to
adopt a sustainable agriculture system, which requires more labor and
management skills compared to conventional agriculture. This, combined
with the growing phenomenon of off-farm employment among farm households
necessitates examining the availability and use of labor by small
conventional and sustainable farmers. The definition of
sustainable agriculture given in the 1990 Farm Bill encompassing
economic, environmental and social/community aspects is adopted in this
study.
Objectives. The objective of this study is
to analyze labor use by small conventional and sustainable farmers in
Tennessee with the goal of providing results that could assist decision
making. It is part of a larger project aimed at assessing the impact of
adopting sustainable agriculture practices in Tennessee.
Methodology. Data were collected from 53
randomly selected farmers operating 10 or more acres with at least $1000
in annual gross sales in Dyer, Franklin and Wilson counties using lists provided
by the County Extension Service offices. In a face-to-face interview
conducted in 1996, farmers were asked to choose if adopting a
sustainable agriculture system could in the long run lead to an
increase, a decrease or no change with respect to each of the following:
1) purchase of external inputs; 2) enterprise diversification; 3)
environmental quality; 4) quality of rural life; and 5) farm
profitability. External inputs refer to all purchased inputs such as
fertilizer, herbicides and insecticides. Data was also acquired on
practices regarding crop rotation, tillage, fertilization and pest
control methods. In terms of labor, they were asked to indicate the
proportion (in percent) used in their operations, in general, that came
from the farm operator, other family members and hired source. Based on
the above definition of sustainable agriculture, their responses to the
questions and practices adopted, farmers were classified as sustainable
or conventional. A t-test was used to observe if there are statistically
significant differences between the two groups of farmers in their use
of labor from different sources.
Results. Analysis indicates that farm
operators were the primary source of labor for production and farm
business management both for sustainable and conventional farmers.
However, there is a statistically significant difference between
sustainable and conventional farmers in their use of other family
members' labor.
Impact. The results establish that labor is
an important input for transition to sustainable agriculture and
increases the need to be cognizant of the issue by policy makers,
farmers and researchers. The uniqueness of the study is that it used the
conventional-sustainable classification rather than labor use in terms
of all small farms as a single entity and is one of very few such
studies done in the country.
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