Resourceful Amish adapt as farming declines, says Indiana historian
...Once known for their strictly agricultural lifestyle and rejection of modernity -- including electricity, cars and telephones -- the Amish increasingly are turning away from the farm, accepting technology and opting for nontraditional jobs, academic researchers and church members say....
The shift from farmer to entrepreneur began decades ago, according to Kraybill and Steven Nolt, a professor of history at Goshen College in Indiana.
In Amish communities near Goshen, men began taking jobs in factories as early as the 1940s, Nolt said. By 1980, a slight majority of the local Amish households still relied on farming, but by 1990 only about one-third of the Amish in the area worked on farms, Nolt said.
Today, fewer than 15 percent of the Goshen area's Amish work on farms; most men work in modular home or recreational vehicle factories, Nolt said.
"Every Amish person will tell you that farming is the better way of life, but then they'll quickly add that it's just not feasible anymore," Nolt said. "Farming has been on the decline in all of the large communities, continent-wide."...
Read entire article at Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The shift from farmer to entrepreneur began decades ago, according to Kraybill and Steven Nolt, a professor of history at Goshen College in Indiana.
In Amish communities near Goshen, men began taking jobs in factories as early as the 1940s, Nolt said. By 1980, a slight majority of the local Amish households still relied on farming, but by 1990 only about one-third of the Amish in the area worked on farms, Nolt said.
Today, fewer than 15 percent of the Goshen area's Amish work on farms; most men work in modular home or recreational vehicle factories, Nolt said.
"Every Amish person will tell you that farming is the better way of life, but then they'll quickly add that it's just not feasible anymore," Nolt said. "Farming has been on the decline in all of the large communities, continent-wide."...