Page 365 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 365
peasant economy in interwar slovenia – policies of income diversification
predictable weather and other variables necessitated taking out insurance
for the crops, livestock and buildings.
These cases reflect the logic of farm management on the one hand,
focused mainly on providing for the farm’s inhabitants, and the insuffi-
ciency of funds for the necessary investments that would increase agricul-
tural productivity on the other. The cases also highlight the various strate-
gies used by farmers to maximize their income. It is clear in all three cases
that basic agricultural activity could not provide the financial basis for in-
creased investment activity at the farm, or could only do so to a minor ex-
tent. The missing funds had to be acquired in a different manner. It was
necessary for the farmers to diversify their sources of income. Small farms,
which dominated the Slovenian countryside, tended to need additional
sources of income to ensure their bare survival, with agricultural produc-
tion barely being sufficient to feed the family. At mid-sized farms, on the
other hand, the households faced a different issue that was just as problem-
atic. After the Great Depression nearly halved agricultural incomes in glob-
al terms, mid-sized farms were in fact unable to achieve the surplus income
necessary for the increase of production through specialisation and intro-
duction of new technologies, and the resultant increase in income and the
improvement of the living standards of the farming population.
4. Different ways of peasant income diversification
In the process of short-term alleviation of the problems faced by small far-
ms, we can discern three strategies used to increase income and diversify
its sources. These approaches were not new, as they had already been tested
before WWI and documented in the time of the Habsburg Monarchy. One
could define these strategies as general methods of overcoming the factors
limiting the profitability of small farms. However, there is another pheno-
menological characteristic that should be pointed out. As a rule, strategies
for the diversification of sources of income were part of the informal eco-
nomy; initiatives and practices were spatially dispersed, rarely taxed and
not included in statistics. The diversification of income had a significant
impact on the alleviation of day-to-day troubles of the peasantry and hel-
ped with the balancing of the budgets of agricultural establishments.
The methods of income diversification consisted of temporary work at
other farms, seasonal migrations abroad, and participation in various ‘cot-
tage industries,’ i.e. the home production of various items. At this point, we
can state with some certainty that these strategies were about the commer-
363
predictable weather and other variables necessitated taking out insurance
for the crops, livestock and buildings.
These cases reflect the logic of farm management on the one hand,
focused mainly on providing for the farm’s inhabitants, and the insuffi-
ciency of funds for the necessary investments that would increase agricul-
tural productivity on the other. The cases also highlight the various strate-
gies used by farmers to maximize their income. It is clear in all three cases
that basic agricultural activity could not provide the financial basis for in-
creased investment activity at the farm, or could only do so to a minor ex-
tent. The missing funds had to be acquired in a different manner. It was
necessary for the farmers to diversify their sources of income. Small farms,
which dominated the Slovenian countryside, tended to need additional
sources of income to ensure their bare survival, with agricultural produc-
tion barely being sufficient to feed the family. At mid-sized farms, on the
other hand, the households faced a different issue that was just as problem-
atic. After the Great Depression nearly halved agricultural incomes in glob-
al terms, mid-sized farms were in fact unable to achieve the surplus income
necessary for the increase of production through specialisation and intro-
duction of new technologies, and the resultant increase in income and the
improvement of the living standards of the farming population.
4. Different ways of peasant income diversification
In the process of short-term alleviation of the problems faced by small far-
ms, we can discern three strategies used to increase income and diversify
its sources. These approaches were not new, as they had already been tested
before WWI and documented in the time of the Habsburg Monarchy. One
could define these strategies as general methods of overcoming the factors
limiting the profitability of small farms. However, there is another pheno-
menological characteristic that should be pointed out. As a rule, strategies
for the diversification of sources of income were part of the informal eco-
nomy; initiatives and practices were spatially dispersed, rarely taxed and
not included in statistics. The diversification of income had a significant
impact on the alleviation of day-to-day troubles of the peasantry and hel-
ped with the balancing of the budgets of agricultural establishments.
The methods of income diversification consisted of temporary work at
other farms, seasonal migrations abroad, and participation in various ‘cot-
tage industries,’ i.e. the home production of various items. At this point, we
can state with some certainty that these strategies were about the commer-
363
