Part-Time Farming near Industrial Areas

Abstract

The part-time farmer is by no means a product of the twentieth century. I think that we would be safe in saying that parttime farming is as old as civilization itself. We do know that history is replete with the examples of people who obtained a portion of their income from the farm and a portion from some other occupation. Although the part-time farming movement has been in progress for some time, it became especially significant immediately following the World War. The greatest growth in the movement has taken place since 1930. In fact, more than a third of the families interviewed in the Cornell studies of part-time farming moved from the city to the country during the last three years. Why has this movement gained such widespread popularity during recent years ? Back in the days of the horse and buggy, the dirt road, and the long working hours in the factory it was practically impossible for the man who worked in the city to live in the country. The coming of the hard-surface road, the automobile and other cheap methods of transportation, the shorter working day, and the shorter work week in the factory, together with some tendency toward the decentralization of industry in some areas have all contributed to make this, what we often term the newback-to-the-land movement, a desirable one politically, socially and economically. Thousands of our people in the industrial states have found it economical, convenient and desirable to live in the country and drive back and forth to their jobs in the city. Our interest in the part-time farming movement in New York State began when we started our intensive work in land utilization. We found that considerable areas near our industrial centers were devoted to country homes and part-time farms. Some facts on the situation were needed, and so we began our studies of this development in the summr of 1932. A total of 725 records were obtained in six different counties during 1932 and 1933. The Di-