Agricultural labourer - to Farmer?

[Marie C..]

This was perfectly possible. An ag lab could be given the tenancy of a few acres and he'd be entitled to call himself a farmer. I have in my family farmers who had sons. Whilst the father farmed each son's occupation was given as "Farmer's son".When the father died the eldest son inherited and the other sons, some of whom worked the home farm, gave their occupations as agricultural labourers.,which they were.
In later censuses some of these sons then tenanted land or in some cases purchased it depending on circumstances. and were then farmers... so yes agricural labours could become farmers.
And farmers could lose their land and have to resort to being agricultural labourers. Fortunes went up and down according to seasons and changes in farming etc.
Marie

[Tinker]

I'm able to confirm what Marie C has said. I've come across the same scenario while researching a neighbour's family who were ag.labs/farmers in Wiltshire. One ancestor went from reasonably prosperous tenant farmer to pauper in his lifetime, while others went from ag.lab to farmer and back again, before farming declined and the Great Western Railways in Swindon took them away from the land.