B742: Improving the Incomes of Small Farm Families in Coastal Maine
Description
Small farms represented a majority of the farms enumerated in recent censuses in Maine. Fifty three percent of the farms grossed less than $10,000 a year from the sale of farm products in 1969 and 1974 according to the Census of Agriculture. Small farms contributed less than 5 percent of the total value of farm products in 1969, (9). Because of their low contribution to productivity, small farms are often seen as anomalies in the general trend towards larger farms using more capital and less labor. Two basic objectives were formulated for this study: 1) To determine the physical, human and financial resources, as well as the source of income from farm and non-farm outlets available to small farm families living_ in coastal Maine; and, 2) To dev~lop optimal organizations of existing small farm and family labor resources in order to maximize the incomes of these farm families.