Farm Typology and Sustainable Agriculture: Does Size Matter?

ABSTRACT The 2001 Agricultural, Food and Public Policy Preference Survey consists of a typology of farms and issues relating to sustainable agriculture. The typology provides an opportunity to investigate the often anecdotally alluded to relationship between farm size, particularly small farms, and sustainable agriculture. This paper utilizes the typology to examine seven classes of farm size and finds a positive and statistically significant relationship between small farms and sustainable agriculture. The interaction term of farm size and tenure suggests that nonagricultural incentives may be adversely impacting the sustainable agriculture decisions of farmers.