In terms of economic factors, the variable denoting whether or not
the farm household has an off-farm income is not significantly related
to any of the adoption categories. This is consistent with findings by
Burton et al. (1999, 2003) and Genius et al. (2006). An increasing
number of household members — which have been considered as a
proxy for available family labour — are negatively related to early
adoption (‘Pioneers’) in comparison to non-adoption. Considering that
organic farming is generally associated with higher labour demand
(Offermann and Nieberg, 2000) and the majority of Irish farms rely on
family labour, this result appears inconsistent. However, an increasing
household size may also limit farm business freedom and family
considerations may often dominate over farmers' personal wishes in
determining farming decisions (Battershill and Gilg, 1997).