In sum, this present report should be read both as a relatively straightfoward update of GPI Atlantic’s 2001 study on Farm Viability and Economic Capacity in Nova Scotia (Scott 2001), and also as part of a much broader and more extensive effort to redefine and expand the understanding of the viability of farms and farm communities in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. [...] As noted above, such interviews were essential in order to understand why farmers continue to farm in the face of highly adverse economic circumstances, to identify the components of human and social capital that are not captured in conventional economic growth-based statistics, and to ascertain the conditions required to sustain farming in Nova Scotia and the Maritimes over time. [...] The details of those interviews and discussions are recorded in the accompanying report Farm and Community Viability: Report on Interview Results (Scott et al 2003).1 The second part of the study records the trends associated with the indicators of viability identified in the interviews. [...] In sum, monetization is a necessary step in light of the dominance of the materialist ethic, in order to overcome the tendency to undervalue the services of unpaid labour, natural resources,. [...] As the grip of market statistics on the policy arena is hopefully and gradually loosened, the desired direction for the GPI is to return to the direct use of a wide range of key time use, environmental quality, economic, and social indicators as direct guides to decision-making.