Interdisciplinary Analysis of Farm-Home Interrelationships in Decision-Making and Action on the Family Farm.

In the last twenty-five years economists and sociologists have shown growing interest in the interrelationships within the family business management situation by pertinent research and extension activities, especially those dealing with family farms. Awareness of the significance of the farm family to the farm business has also been developing in the agricultural sector of the business community. This article takes stock of progress made in understanding farm-home interrelationships in decision-making and proposes an interdisciplinary approach for basic research on both the events of decision-making and acting upon the decisions. This investigation also has significance for decision-making and action in non-farm family business situations. To be specific, the principal objectives here are (a) to review and evaluate extension and research activities in farm and home interrelationships, (b) to introduce the reader to some literature in the other social sciences which may make economic research on the events of farm-home decision-making and action conceptually and empirically more fruitful and extension work more useful, and (c) to outline the steps of a proposed program of basic research. Hopefully the article will provoke professional discussion of the potentials of interdisciplinary research.