Space, Government Payments, and Off-Farm Labor Response of Principal Farm Operators: A County-Level Analysis

We examine the effects of space and government payments on off-farm employment among principal farm operators for the entire US as well as for ERS/USDA farm resource regions. Spatial dependency in off-farm employment of principal farm operators in the U.S. overall is evident; however, this is not the case for all farm resource regions. While the effects of government payments overall are significant for the U.S., important variations exist by farm program type and across ERS/USDA regions.