PART TIME FARMING IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT: EVIDENCE FROM WESTERN IRELAND.

This paper presents the findings of a case study of pan time farming in the small farm economy of Western Ireland. Three aspects of off farm employment arc examined factors affecting the adoption of employment, its impact on the rural economy as expressed in investment patterns, and its impact on land use patterns The study compares full time and part time farms. The results help to supplement the findings of previous research on part time farming in Ireland and illustrate that off farm employment has both benefits and disadvantages for the rural economy. On the one hand, population is retained in the countryside and opportunities arc provided for improving general standards of living, while on the other, intensities of land use are reduced. The study concludes that while strategies for increasing the productivity of part time farms are required a broadly based approach is needed m development policies which takes account of the inter-connections between part time farming and other aspects of rural social and economic life [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]