ten of mainland farms are below 10 acres in size. The table also
suggests that Virgin Islands farms tend to become smaller in size
over time, while other information indicates that mainland farms
are increasing in average size. In some other Caribbean territories
the percentage of small farms is even larger and still tending to
further subdivision. This great range in size of production units
between both areas holds some clues to the differences in agri-
cultural performance. Many studies have investigated the relation-
ship between farm size and the level of production, and it is
commonly held that as farms increase in size, increasing returns
to scale prevail, while fragmentation into smaller units causes
decreasing returns to scale. This view appears quite simplistic,
and it certainly would not explain the persistence of family farms
on the mainland or small farms in the Caribbean. It has been
suggested as an alternative that economic dynamics of risk and
uncertainty may be the final determinant of farm size in agricul-
ture. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that the scale of operations
in terms of financial investment, machinery, labor and other
factors that must be applied to mainland farms would be most
inappropriate for Caribbean farms of much lesser size and where
physical and many other relevant farming conditions are quite
different. Perhaps one of the most crucial of these conditions is
the availability of labor.

 As technology has improved in the United States, farming
 has benefited from such improvement. The introduction of modern
 machines that perform tasks from automatically furrowing and
 sowing seeds to airplanes that apply insecticides have reduced the
 need for human labor. The salutary effect on farming is that it
 reduced labor costs while it has increased production and pro-
 ductivity levels. The displaced farm labor has drifted to urban
 areas and have mostly been employed in farm-related industries.
 The skilled labor required for the modern farm machinery is not
 in short supply because wages for such tasks are very attractive.
 On the contrary, one finds that in the Caribbean in general, one of
 the main problems in agriculture has been that of securing ade-
 quate supplies of labor. The anomalous situation exists where
 there is a shortage of labor both for the plantations and small-scale
 farms alongside massive unemployment and underemployment.
 Reference was made earlier to the very low social status that is
 accorded farm work because of the past stigma of slavery. In
 addition, wages are too low to be attractive to youth or the skilled
 laborers. And even for the unskilled and unemployed, farm work is
 often repulsive enough so that one prefers "to lime" rather than
 work in the sun with one's hands. Yet it is quite clear that Carib-
 bean farm workers can, and do work well when the conditions
 are more favorable. An outstanding example of this is the recruit-
 ment of seasonal workers by U.S. labor contractors in Jamaica,
 Haiti, Barbados and other territories to work in Florida and Texas
 to cut cane, pick oranges or pick tomatoes. This suggests that
 income is a major determinant in the willingness of farm workers
 to produce at satisfactory levels.

 The plantations throughout the Caribbean have a long.
 documented history of exploitation of agrarian workers. Wherever
 they exist, the majority of the workers remain in unenviable
 poverty with the exception of management and the land owners.
 The majority of the farmers do not own the land which they
 cultivate, and in most cases the land tenure arrangements serve as
 direct deterrents to higher production levels. An indication of the
 low levels of income that prevail in regional farming may be
 te-aned from the market value of agricultural products sold shown
hin-the-table. In 1978, 84.1 percent of Virgin Islands farms had
annual sales of less than $2,500. Certainly the income derived


from such sales is hardly enough to sustain a normal family of
average size, and such families must turn to other sources to
supplement their income. The pattern is the same on the sugar,
banana or coffee plantations in the region. Farm operators must
combine their farm activities with working on the plantations,
fishing, or working at odd jobs to supplement their farm income.
Mainland farming, characterized by larger farming units, have
much higher sales in farm produce. While only 12.4 percent of
Virgin Islands farms had sales of over $2,500 in 1974, the com-
parable figure in the U.S. was 71.9 percent. No Virgin Islands
farm was recorded with sales over $40,000, while on the main-
land 20.6 percent of the farms exceeded this value in 1974. One
may therefore expect that such levels of sales contribute substan-
tially to income and partly explain the favorable social status of
farmers and their ability to attract investment capital when needed.
One factor that has' contributed to high sales and corresponding
income levels on the mainland is the high level of marketing
arrangements.

 The unbroken history of agricultural contribution to the
development of the nation's economy attests to the high level
of organization of its many component parts. The continual
improvement of communications by road, rail, water and later by
air has enabled farm produce to reach its destination in good time.
The fact that the U.S. mainland is a contiguous entity alone does
not explain the great success farmers have had in marketing their
goods. Considerable entrepreneurial skill was applied to this
aspect of the industry, and despite the fact that retail prices are
much higher than farm-gate prices, in most cases the consumers
still purchase the produce without protest. There is little doubt
also that American technology has helped much in all aspects from
harvesting the produce mechanically in many areas to wrapping,
bottling, or canning the final product. In some cases, the relatively
low prices have enabled American producers to market their goods
abroad due to highly competitive price structures. The case of
hotels and restaurants in the Caribbean importing fresh vegetables,
milk, fish, beef and the like, from the U.S. mainland in territories
which produce these goods is well known. It is one of the severe
shortcomings of Caribbean non-plantation farming that marketing
is still at a very low level of development. Part of this stems from
the fact that marketing was originally designed to facilitate the
export of agricultural raw material and not to foster the internal
or regional movement of domestically grown food. The current
result of these historical marketing arrangements is that internal
island economies have become easily penetrable by importing
foodstuffs, hence such agricultural products have become readily
available substitutes for locally produced food. Even though the
widespread higgler marketing system is disorganized, in many ways
it is effective. Until provisions for credit, financing, and other


The Pride of Frederiksted

 Prime Ribs
 of Beef


 I ler
 RESTAURANT T l
 On the Caribbean. in Prince PhilIps Passage
 Strand & Fisher Streets, Fraderiksted