Ohio Farm Household Income

IncomeThe Ohio Farm Longitudinal Study is analyzing the financial performance and farm management practices of approximately 900 farm households over several years.From March to May, farmers in the sample are contacted by telephone and asked to share information about their households and businesses.This report and others following it will summarize the information gathered in spring, 1988.Financial data also was collected during the same period last year, which allows comparisons to be made between farms' 1987 financial performance and that of a year earlier.Farm households in the sample are representative of the 70, 000-80, 000 households operating farms in Ohio.They were randomly selected from the population of those operating farms and fully depict the range of conditions existing on Ohio farms.Approximately 675 of the 900 households have participated in the study during both 1987 and 1988, and about 225 of the households interviewed last year were replaced in 1988 by other randomly selected households.This report focuses on farm household income and sources of this income.The general picture that emerges in this summary is that (a) net farm income improved slightly during 1987; (b) for the "average" farm household, income from off the farm continued to be a major source of household income; and (c) for the "commercial" farm, the farm business generated the major share of household income.