TABLE 1. Selected agricultural indices, U.S. Virgin Islands: 1930, 1960, 1975, 1983.


 1930 1960 1975 1983

No. of farms 329 501 327 303
Acreage in farms 68,322 44,062 24,703 20,824
Average farm soze (acres) 207.7 87.9 75.5 68.7
% Agricultural employment 33.2 7.2 0.5 0.5
Harvested cropland (acres) 6,895 4,272 751 819
Harvested cropland/Total acres 10.1 9.7 3.0 3.9
Land in pasture/Total acres 55.31 48.8 62.6 76.8
% Farms with tractors 2.4 6.0 13.1 18.2
% Farms with hired labor 55.3 30.3 33.9 27.7
% Farms purch. livestock/poultry feed 19.1 24.8 67.3 70.0
% Farms using fertilizer 2.4 11.6 19.9 21.8
% Operators with agriculture as main
 occupation 67.0 NA 35.5 43.6


% Operators working 200+ days off farm
% Operators who are farm owners
% Operators 10 years or more on farm
% Operators 2-4 years on farm


21.91 46.5 34.3 45.5
44.3 77.0 85.9 80.2


41.6 56.9 58.1


60.4


25.61 20.8 17.7 15.5


SOURCES: U.S. Census of the Population for the Virgin Islands, 1930, 1960,
 1970, 1980; U.S. Census of Agriculture for the Virgin Islands,
 1930, 1959, 1974, 1982. Bureau of the Census, Washington.
11940


very small units juxtaposed alongside a very few large-scale com-
mercial tracts. For example, between 1930 and 1983, the percen-
tage of smallest holdings (under three acres) rose from less than
3 % of all farms to one-quarter of the total. Farms under ten acres
rose from roughly one-third to two-thirds of the total. In 1983,
84% of all farms in the territory were less than 50 acres in size.
On the other hand, the number of large farms-175 acres or
more in the small-island context-fell from one-third of the total
to less than 6%. While acreage in the largest commercial opera-
tions (1000 + acres) grew from one-third to nearly half the total,
the overall acreage contained in the relatively economic medium-
sized farm types (175-259 acres, 260-499 acres, 500-599 acres)
dropped sharply from approximately 60% of the total in 1930 to
31% in 1983.
 Table 3 records the impact of these long-run changes on farm
production. The trends indicate the demise of sugar previously
noted and declining significance for cattle, field crops,
vegetables, and some of the more land-intensive fruits/nuts like
coconuts and pineapples. On the other hand, data also show in-
creased output of bananas, avocados, citrus, small livestock,
poultry, and poultry/dairy products. Much of this expansion has
occurred after 1960, a recent agricultural resurgence detailed
elsewhere (De Albuquerque and McElroy, 1983). In summary,
USVI agriculture adapted to a half century of land/labor en-
croachment by contracting farm size and effort, some substitu-
tion of capital inputs, and modifying the composition of output
to suit the constraints of predominantly small-scale holdings and
domestic in contrast to export demand, leaving the largest com-
mercial tracts to further specialize in cattle and dairy products.
Similar changes have occurred throughout many other East
Caribbean islands (Bourne and Weir, 1980).


TABLE 2. Distribution of farm size and acreage, U.S. Virgin Islands: 1930, 1960, 1975, 1983.


PROCEEDINGS of the CARIBBEAN FOOD CROPS SOCIETY-VOL. XX


 1930 1960 1975 1983
Farm Size
 (acres)
 % total % total % total % total % total % total % total % total
 farms acres farms acres farms acres farms acres

 Under 3 2.4 0.1 11.1 0.2 33.3 0.5 24.8 0.6
 3-9 34.6 0.8 39.7 2.5 28.7 2.1 37.6 2.9
 10-19 10.3 0.7 17.4 2.7 10.7 1.8 10.7 2.0
 20-49 10.5 1.5 11.4 4.2 10.1 3.8 11.2 5.0
 50-99 4.6 1.4 8.4 6.6 5.8 5.7 5.9 5.7
 100-174 4.3 2.8 3.6 5.5 4.0 6.4 4.0 6.9
 175-259 8.9 9.6 2.0 4.7 2.1 6.2 1.6 5.4
 260-499 11.6 20.2 2.6 10.9 2.4 12.2 2.0 11.0
 500-999 8.5 29.3 2.0 15.8 0.9 7.9 1.3 14.7
 1000 and over 4.3 33.6 1.8 46.9 1.8 53.3 0.9 45.8

 Totall 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

 Under 10 37.0 0.9 50.8 2.7 62.0 2.6 62.4 3.5
 Under 50 57.8 3.1 79.6 9.6 82.8 8.2 84.3 10.5
 Under 100 62.4 4.5 88.0 16.2 88.6 13.9 90.2 16.2
 175-999 29.0 59.1 6.6 31.4 5.4 26.3 4.9 31.1
 175 and over 33.0 92.7 8.4 78.3 7.2 79.6 5.8 76.9

 SOURCES: U.S. Census of Agriculture for the Virgin Islands, 1930, 1959, 1974, 1982. Bureau of the
 Census, Washington.
 1
 May not sum exactly because of rounding error.


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