Off-farm Income, Credit Constraints, and Farm Investment

Many farmers face borrowing limits that depend on their household income and net worth. Given such credit constraints, an increase in off-farm income should allow farmers to borrow more, thus influencing production decisions and productivity. To test this hypothesis, the education level of the farm operator's spouse is used to identify exogenous variation in off-farm income. Findings indicate that higher off-farm income leads to more borrowing, capital expenditures, capital input intensity, farm labor use, output, farm income, and productivity. Results suggest that Federal programs that promote access to credit for limited-resource farmers may increase farm investment and productivity.