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Within the European Union, Ireland is one of the countries that has a very high number of farms where the farm operator and/or spouse works outside the family farm. The role of off‐farm employment in the viability of Irish farm households is central to both farming and the sustainability of rural communities. This article examines the importance of pluriactive farm households at both local and regional levels by refering to cases studies drawn from the West of Ireland. It shows that off‐farm work by Irish farm families is neither a new phenomenon nor purely the result of economic necessity. It also indicates the considerable socio‐economic and environmental importance of pluriactivity. The article concludes by relating the realities of pluriactivity to the future rural and agricultural policy of the European Union. It suggests that the growing role of pluriactivity for farm households should be viewed more as a key strategy in the maintenance of a ‘living countryside’ than as an indicator of conventional agriculture’s failure to sustain farming populations.
Kinsella et al. (Sun,) studied this question.