A SAMPLE OF 528 FARMERS WHO HAD BEEN ENROLLED IN INSTRUCTIONAL ON-FARM TRAINING FOLLOWING WORLD WAR II WERE STUDIED TO DETERMINE THE RELATIONSHIP OF SELECTED ECONOMIC, EDUCATIONAL, AND BIOGRAPHICAL VARIABLES TO FARM SUCCESS AND TO EXAMINE THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE EDUCATIONAL INVESTMENT COMPONENT TO FARM SUCCESS. DATA WERE COLLECTED BY QUESTIONNAIRE AND INTERVIEW, AND FROM TRAINING RECORDS OF EACH FARMER. SIXTEEN VARIABLES WERE CHOSEN TO REPRESENT THE EDUCATIONAL, BIOGRAPHICAL, AND ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE BEGINNING FARMER. THE DEPENDENT VARIABLES WERE GROSS INCOME, NET INCOME, AND AVERAGE YEARLY GAIN IN NET WORTH. MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSES WERE USED TO ASSESS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLES, AND THE EDUCATIONAL COMPONENT WAS FURTHER EXAMINED WITH AN ANALYSIS OF THE MULTIPLE COVARIANCE TECHNIQUE. SOME FINDINGS WERE--(1) APPROXIMATELY 25 PERCENT OF THE VARIATION IN GROSS INCOME CAN BE PREDICTED, (2) NET INCOME COULD NOT BE EFFECTIVELY PREDICTED WITH THE VARIABLES SELECTED, (3) AGE AT BEGINNING OF TRAINING, BEGINNING TENURE STATUS, TOTAL BEGINNING CAPITAL, MECHANICAL APTITUDE TEST SCORE, AND NUMBER OF ADULT CLASSES ATTENDED WERE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT VARIABLES, (4) ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF THE VARIATIONS IN GAIN IN NET WORTH WAS ATTRIBUTED TO VARIATION IN AGE AT THE BEGINNING OF TRAINING, TOTAL BEGINNING CAPITAL, SIZE OF BUSINESS IN TILLABLE ACRES, AND ADULT CLASSES ATTENDED. ADULT CLASSES ATTENDED WAS SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO BOTH GROSS INCOME AND GAIN IN NET WORTH WHICH INDICATED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AVAILABILITY OF ADULT EDUCATION TO FARM SUCCESS. THIS PH.D. THESIS, WHICH WAS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, IS AVAILABLE AS 66-12,233 FOR $3.00 ON MICROFILM AND FOR $7.60 AS XEROXED COPY FROM UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS, INC., 300 NORTH ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 48106. (WB)