Public investment in technical assistance to limited-resource farmers may be completely consistent with hard-headed taxpayer self-interest, because such investment provides a way for the impoverished to raise their incomes so they will no longer draw public-assistance benefits and will contribute more to financing public services by paying additional taxes. Conventional extension technical-assistance programs rarely reach under-educated, limited-resource farmers, so extension programs have recently recognized the necessity for more personal, on-site instruction. Paraprofessional aides recruited from among better-educated, more progressive farmers have been used with apparent success. Results of a 1977 survey of 120 low-income, eastern Kentucky farmers indicated that (1) genuine opportunities for improving net farm incomes exist which could make more than half of present welfare recipients ineligible for benefits; (2) even with much-improved management, a substantial number of farm families would remain eligible for some public assistance; and (3) a 50% improvement in the net public-sector accounts position would justify expenditures on technical assistance well above the average annual costs of $220 per farm (1977 dollars) incurred in Missouri's small-farm program, even if potential demonstration effects on other low-income farms and farm families are ignored. (MH)