Changes in Rural Land Use and Part-time Farming, Central Victoria, 1974 to 1978

Abstract

Successive surveys of 376 holdings near Melbourne, in 1974-75 and 1978-79, revealed a substantial increase in part-time farming at the expense of full-time farming, but little change in overall land use and area farmed. Few of the part-time surveyed were profitable in the mid-1970's, but most farmers put their farming way of life ahead of financial considerations, and the blow was softened by capital gains on farm land and the tax deductibility of farm losses. Part-time were a little less productive than neighbouring full-time farms, but there was little evidence that small part-time were neglected or badly managed. In any case, the relative insignificance of small holdings in the survey areas suggests that concern about the adverse land-use consequences of hobby farms and rural retreats may be overstated.