Excerpts: In 1975, an estimated ten and one-half million or 14 percent of U.S. households had incomes below the poverty level. About 420,000 (4 percent) of these were farm related. Those below the poverty level comprised 16.4 percent of all farm households. Many of these persons depend on farming for a significant part of their livelihoods and, therefore, they are a special concern of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since most of these farms have low sales volumes, past and present production-oriented programs probably have had little impact on their low income levels. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the current situation of poor people in farming. A short perspective is presented followed by a discussion of some of the features of poverty definitions and the presentation of data on the characteristics of poverty level households and their farming operations. A final section is used to suggest the need for further research.