This is Ehsan Masoomi. I am a second year master of science student at the Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Iran. 

Family farms study is an important issue in Iran which can lead to rural development and improvement, since most rural farms are family oriented and the majority of them are small scale. Therefore, the farm governing style must be considered in rural development plans and policy making. 

There are a couple of main differences between small farmers and large-scale farmers. First, the majority of large-scale farmers are not rural residents and their role in rural development is not significant compared to small farmers. Second, the majority of farmers are small farmers and their share in rural development is significant.  

As an example, one of the issues that is important in rural development is change in the farmer family members number when a fixed resources (such as water and land) is going to be distributed to more people due to increase in the farmer family members and subsequent change in member roles. Consequences of those changes are: decrease of family income, weaker perspective of agriculture for the young generation, reduction of young people in the farmers family and an older farmers family.

Therefore, old farmers need their own special consultancy. It should be mentioned that, meanwhile, young people must be considered and try to give them a better agriculture perspective.

Ehsan Masoomi
Master Student in Agricultural Engineering 
Department of Agricultural Extension & Education 
Shiraz University, 
Iran 
e-mail: masoomi_ehsan (at) yahoo.com
alternative e-mail: e.masoomi68 (at) gmail.com

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