Profitability of para-agricultural activities

Using cost/performance calculations, the profitability of four para-agricultural activities (contracted work for third parties, direct marketing, tourism and services) is investigated, with labour utilisation, i.e. the resultant hourly wage, serving as a criterion. With a focus on farm activities with a gross performance of between CHF 10,000 and CHF 100,000, there are 2339 observations available for the analysis. Whilst the performance of contract work – i.e. work for third parties – achieves a labour utilisation of CHF 40, the figure is CHF 25 for direct marketing. Tourism achieves CHF 24, and other services CHF 17. Para-agricultural activities are for the most part more economically attractive than the average hourly wage in agriculture (CHF 16). At the same time, the observations of the farm activities show an enormous heterogeneity in terms of the achieved performances and the costs. The most important cost differentials for the farm activity ’work for third parties’ are the machine costs; for direct marketing, the direct costs; and for tourism and services, the labour costs.