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Hobby Farming - For Pleasure or Profit?

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  • Boyd, Stephen

Abstract

Hobby farms have represented a significant share of census-farms for many decades. Most operators of hobby farms treat the farm as a "hobby" -- there is no intention of making money. However, some hobby farms are profitable. The purpose of this paper is to identify the proportion of farms in Canada which are hobby farms and to identify the characteristics of the hobby farms that make money. According to 1991 Census of Agriculture data, there were 50,991 census-farms in which the main operator reported 190 days or more of off-farm work and whose farm did not employ any year round paid labour. Part-time or "hobby" farmers are an integral part of the agriculture population. Among the hobby farmers in Canada 40% are reporting positive net cash farm income. Only 9% of these hobby farmers are reporting net cash farm income of greater than $10,000. Ontario and BC's farm population consists of the highest proportion of hobby farms (18% and 16% respectively). Hobby farming is not a new phenomenon in Canada and hobby farmers do not appear to be a dying group. It is obvious that there is much more to this pursuit than making a profit.

Suggested Citation

  • Boyd, Stephen, 1998. "Hobby Farming - For Pleasure or Profit?," Agriculture and Rural Working Paper Series 28054, Statistics Canada.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:scarwp:28054
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.28054
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    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/28054/files/wp000033.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Tracy Stobbe & Geerte Cotteleer & G. Cornelis van Kooten, 2008. "Hobby Farms and Protection of Farmland in British Columbia," Working Papers 2008-01, University of Victoria, Department of Economics, Resource Economics and Policy Analysis Research Group.
    2. Stobbe, Tracy & Eagle, Alison J. & van Kooten, G. Cornelis, 2008. "Hobby Farms and British Columbia'a Agricultural Land Reserve," Working Papers 42244, University of Victoria, Resource Economics and Policy.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Farm Management;

    Statistics

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