Agricultural adjustment and business diversification by farm households

This article examines the nature and incidence of business diversification by farm households in three types of rural economy in England. After defining the concept of business diversification, the preliminary findings of an extensive postal questionnaire survey of more than 1250 farm households are presented. Emphasis is placed on both the differences in business diversification between the three areas and the types of farm and farm household involved in this form of agricultural adjustment. Differences in farm size, farm type, occupancy and household composition provide indirect explanations of the development of business diversification in the three areas, but further intensive methods and qualitative analyses are required to identify the major processes creating spatial variations in business diversification by farm households.