THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY WAS TO IDENTIFY THE NUMBER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF OFF-FARM AGRICULTURAL OCCUPATIONS IN OHIO. A QUESTIONNAIRE WAS DEVELOPED, PRETESTED, AND MAILED TO 7,847 DIFFERENT FIRMS, AGENCIES, AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE SAMPLE. RESPONSES WERE KEYED TO THE STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CODE INDEX SO THAT CENSUS DATA COULD BE USED AS A PROJECTION BASE. BASED ON RETURNS FROM 1,001 FIRMS WHICH HAD 43,453 EMPLOYEES, PROJECTIONS SHOWED 57 DIFFERENT KINDS OF FIRMS OR AGENCIES EMPLOYING 165,262 OFF-FARM AGRICULTURAL WORKERS OR 5.3 PERCENT OF ALL OF THE 3,104,200 OHIO WORKERS. NEEDED COMPETENCIES VARIED WITH KINDS OF FIRMS AND LEVELS OF EMPLOYMENT. COMPETENCY IN FOOD PROCESSING AND HORTICULTURE WAS NEEDED BY 49,372 AND 33,206 WORKERS, RESPECTIVELY. OF 15,890 NEW OFF-FARM AGRICULTURAL WORKERS NEEDED ANNUALLY, 6 PERCENT WERE AT THE PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL LEVEL, WHILE MOST OF THE REMAINDER WERE AT THE SALES, SKILLED, SEMISKILLED, AND SERVICE WORKER LEVEL. THE ANNUAL TURNOVER OF EMPLOYEES WAS 9.6 PERCENT. EMPLOYERS EXPRESSED NO FARM, RURAL OR URBAN BACKGROUND PREFERENCE FOR 88 PERCENT OF THE WORKERS. THIS PH.D. THESIS, WHICH WAS SUBMITTED TO THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY IS AVAILABLE AS 66-6236 FOR $3.00 ON MICROFILM AND FOR $8.40 AS XEROXED COPY FROM UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS, INC., 300 NORTH ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 48106. (JM)