Maatilojemme hoidon jatkuvuus ja ns. maaltapako

Authors

• Antti Mäki Helsingin Yliopiston maanviljelystalouden laitos
• Maire Honkanen Helsingin Yliopiston maanviljelystalouden laitos
• Matti Räsänen Helsingin Yliopiston maanviljelystalouden laitos

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.71534

Abstract

The investigation is based on a questionnaire mailed in 1957 to some 10 000 farms with a minimum of 2 hectares of arable land. These holdings were selected by lot from among all Finnish farms in 1950 to represent the districts of all the agricultural societies and the different sizes of the holdings. A total of 4 446 replies were received, which is 44.2 per cent of the number of questionnaires mailed. The holdings were grouped by the tilled area into four classes and the whole country was divided into four investigation areas. These were the Southern area (E), the Central area (K), the Northern area (P) and the Lapland area (L). The results are given as means for these areas and for the country as a whole. According to the investigation, the mean age of the present-day farmer in the country as a whole is 51.3 years. In the northern part of the country farmers are 1–3 years older than in southern Finland. Farmers over 60 totalled 27.0 per cent in the country as a whole and 35.6 per cent in the area of Lapland. 85.4 per cent of all farms in the country are to be inherited by relatives after the decease of the present owner. In the E area, 12.8 per cent of the farmers plan to sell the farm, in the L area only 7.1 per cent. Less than one per cent of the farms of the E area come into the category of neglected holdings. The percentage rises northwards and is 3.3 in Lapland. At the same time as the average size of the farms diminishes on moving from southern Finland northwards, the proportion of farms to be divided among heirs increases from 18.9 per cent in southern Finland to 49.2 per cent in Lapland. The average number of children in farming families is 3 5 in the country as a whole. The number of children per farm increases on moving northwards being 2.1 more in Lapland than in southern Finland. Of the total of children in farming families, 23.3 per cent in the E area are children whose school education is limited to attendance at elementary school. The percentage increases on advancing northward and is 35.9 in Lapland. Fewer children than elsewhere attend vocational schools and secondary school or study at a university in the P area. At the time of the inquiry, 8.8 per cent of the children of farming families in the southern part of Finland were attending secondary school. In the P area, the corresponding figure was 4.1 per cent. Youths attending or graduated from a university or other institute of higher learning accounted for 3.6 per cent of the children of farming families in the E area and for 1.3 per cent in the P area. The percentage of farms which had children with completed schooling or studies engaged in farming or associated work on the home farm was 55.1 per cent in the E area, 60.9 per cent in the K area, 69.9 per cent in the P area and 60.4 per cent in the L area. For the country as a whole the corresponding percentage was 60.7. The investigation also provided information on the number of families whose children were employed on other work than farming (4.1 per cent on an average) and the cases in which one of the children still at school intended to continue working on the land (average 13.7 per cent). The above-mentioned groups taken together give the maximum number of farms that will remain in the possession of the same family during the next generation. The proportion of children who had left the farm was about 17 per cent in the P area and elsewhere about 20 per cent of the total of children. In the E area 17.3 per cent, and in the other areas well over a fourth, of the number of children who had moved from home were employed elsewhere in agriculture or forestry. In the farmer’s view, the most important reason for the flight from the rural areas is the poor profitableness of farming. Other fairly common reasons are unwillingness to divide up the farm and lack of supplementary earnings.