Off-farm income may harm farm productivity, study finds.
Part-time farming in Australia may not always make farms more resilient. Off-farm income can actually lower farm productivity by reducing scale and specialized labor gains. This can outweigh the benefits of risk diversification. Farmers who rely more on off-farm income are less likely to adopt strategies to expand their production when faced with challenges like drought or price changes. This means that having off-farm income can make it harder for farmers to adapt to unexpected problems on their farms.