POSTWAR READJUSTMENTS IN AGRICULTURE 23 



Part-Time Farming Needs and Opportunities 



The reconstruction of existing farming units of substandard type will aim 

 primarily at reorganization of Massachusetts agriculture on the basis of efificierLt 

 economic units suitable for family operations under modern conditions. It is 

 realized that the objective should be to eliminate as far as possible those farming 

 units which are inadequate from the standpoint of size and available land re- 

 sources to support a rural family except on a subsistence level. 



An entirely different situation exists, however, in regard to part-time farming. 

 This is a condition where the land is only a contributing factor to the family 

 living, and the main reliance is on other sources of income, either from outside 

 employment, pensions, annuities, or invested capital. In Massachusetts, part- 

 time farming in this sense has been an important factor for a number of years 

 and is now found throughout the State, especially in the vicinity of cities and 

 rural areas where good transportation facilities are available. The conditions 

 which are likeh to exist in the postwar period indicate a very sizable increase in 

 the number of people engaging in part-time farming. 



One of the important groups will be war workers with an agricultural back- 

 ground who have accumulated some savings and would like to secure a place in 

 the country not far from potential industrial or other employment. Another 

 important group will be represented by pensioned veterans retired on account of 

 some degree of disability caused by war. A small-scale farm ma>- provide for 

 them the type of activity which will not involve too much strain and still give 

 an outlet for their desire to perform some useful work. The limited contribution 

 of their farming operations will allow them to stretch much further the pension 

 allowance received from the government. The same considerations and oppor- 

 tunities will involve settlement on the land of another larger group which will 

 grow considerably in size in the years following the war; that is, workers retired 

 from industry' and some other occupations on account of age. With the Social 

 Securit\" program in full operation, a large number of these people will be receiving 

 old-age annuities and many of them, judging b\- the movement already in opera- 

 tion, will tend to settle on the land. 



The greatest problem of most of these people in trying to gain a foothold on 

 the land will be to obtain landholdings of a suitable and convenient size. Under 

 present conditions, most of the land available to this group is located either in 

 the vicinity of large cities or in more remote areas on farms going out of agri- 

 cultural use. In either case the situation is unsatisfactory-. In the first case, 

 land values often are inflated and the amount of land which can be purchased by 

 an individual is usualh' limited to a size not allowing a desirable amount of 

 agricultural production. In the second case the holdings are of considerably larger 

 size than necessary and, in addition, are located less conveniently for the opera- 

 tor who has to commute to his place of outside employment. 



The better to fill the needs for land purchase by prospective part-time farm- 

 ers, there might be a place for some cooperative action to obtain suitable tracts 

 of land and develop them in line with the needs of this group of people. The 

 source of needed land would be largely undeveloped tracts which could be prop- 

 erly improved prior to actual settlement. To purchase land at a reasonable 

 price and in' tracts of adequate size, it would be necessary to draw mostly on 

 land which needs some preliminary operations in either clearing, drainage, or 

 stone removal or all of them combined. Such developments should be located 

 both in the vicinity of industrial areas and in rural districts at some distance 

 from the centers of population, depending upon the group of people they are to 

 accommodate. 



