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Farm Diversification: Drivers, Barriers and Future Growth Potential
Summary Family farm businesses throughout Europe are facing new economic, environmental and social challenges. In order to deliver a more resilient primary agriculture sector, national and regional governments are identifying mechanisms to support farm businesses to adapt to these changing demands....
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| Published in: | EuroChoices 2021-08, Vol.20 (2), p.70-75 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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Family farm businesses throughout Europe are facing new economic, environmental and social challenges. In order to deliver a more resilient primary agriculture sector, national and regional governments are identifying mechanisms to support farm businesses to adapt to these changing demands. This qualitative study explored the drivers of and barriers to farm diversification and its potential as a strategy to make farms more sustainable. Although there are a range of farm diversification strategies being pursued regionally, farm diversification is under‐exploited as an opportunity to achieve additional household income. Areas considered to have the potential for growth included, agri‐tourism, care services (including social farming), professional services and developing artisan food products. Beyond the need to generate new income sources, creating employment for other family members was considered an important motivation. Those factors identified as constraints to diversification included internet access, planning, business rates, support around skills development, networks and a farmer's own fear of failure. For smaller scale, family farm businesses located in more marginal areas, there is a need to identify a range of policy levers which support local farming systems and capture the multifaceted nature of the products and services that these farm businesses could provide and may be asked to deliver in the future.
A travers toute l'Europe, les entreprises agricoles familiales sont confrontées à de nouveaux défis économiques, environnementaux et sociaux. Afin de rendre le secteur agricole primaire plus résilient, les pouvoirs publics nationaux et régionaux identifient des mécanismes pour aider les entreprises agricoles à s'adapter à ces demandes changeantes. Cette étude qualitative a exploré les moteurs et les obstacles à la diversification agricole et la capacité de cette stratégie à rendre les exploitations plus durables. Bien qu'il existe au niveau régional une gamme de stratégies à cet égard, le potentiel de la diversification des exploitations à générer des revenus supplémentaires pour les ménages est sous‐exploité. Les domaines considérés comme prometteurs comprennent l'agrotourisme, les services de soins (y compris l'agriculture sociale), les services professionnels et le développement de produits alimentaires artisanaux. Au‐delà de la nécessité de générer de nouvelles sources de revenus, la création d'emplois pour d'autres membres de la fami |
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| ISSN: | 1478-0917 1746-692X |
| DOI: | 10.1111/1746-692X.12295 |