Agricultural multifunctionality and farmers' entrepreneurial skills: A study of Tuscan and Welsh farmers

Morgan, Selyf Lloyd; Marsden, Terry; Miele, Mara; Morley, Adrian Sherwin

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2009.09.002

Cited by 149 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The frequency of non-agronomic topics in comparison to research findings of studies carried out in a development context may also be due to the fact that farming in industrialized countries is partly moving from the production of agricultural raw products to more multifunctional farm activities (Björklund & Milestad, 2006;Hubert, Ison, & Röling, 2000) and rural development activities (Darnhofer, 2005), a development that is also driven by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU (Morgan, Marsden, Miele, & Morley, 2010). Another factor that influences agricultural activities is decreasing prices due to market liberalization (Hubert et al, 2000).…”

Section: Topics Motives and Information Sources For Farmers' Experimmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmers’ Own Research: Organic Farmers’ Experiments in Austria and Implications for Agricultural Innovation Systems

Kummer

Leitgeb

Vogl

2017

SAR

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Farmers' experiments can be defined as the autonomous activities of farmers to try or introduce something new at the farm, and include evaluation of success or failure with farmers' own methods. Experiments enable farmers to adapt their farms to changing circumstances, build up local knowledge, and have resulted in countless agricultural innovations. Most research on the topic has been conducted in countries of the south. In this paper, however, we present experiments of randomly sampled organic farmers in Austria, and we discuss implications for agricultural innovation systems. In 76 structured questionnaire interviews we investigated topics, motives, methods and outcomes of farmers' experiments, and factors related to the frequency of experimentation. From the interviewed farmers, 90% reported experiments, and the majority of experiments (94%) involved monitoring and evaluation strategies. Farmers who reported a high frequency of experimentation showed a significantly higher propensity to plan, document and repeat their experiments, and had a more positive attitude towards experimenting than farmers that rarely experimented. We conclude that experimenting is a common activity among organic farmers in Austria, and that farmers have their own methods to conduct and assess their experiments. The most significant outcome is the creation of new knowledge, stressing the importance of experimentation for learning and adaptive farm management. Farmers' experiments are significant on two levels, i.e. at individual farm level and at the level of agricultural innovation systems. Taking full advantage of this innovative potential requires a better involvement of farmers as co-researchers into the development of agricultural innovations.

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Section: Topics Motives and Information Sources For Farmers' Experimmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmers’ Own Research: Organic Farmers’ Experiments in Austria and Implications for Agricultural Innovation Systems

Kummer

Leitgeb

Vogl

2017

SAR

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“…These latter alternatives have been promoted not only because they retain a greater amount of the economic value of the product in the producer community but also can be combined with other activities to create greater economic opportunities in the wider community [20]. Much policy and academic discussion around rural development in England has become focused on the role of food in offering a route through which value can be added, captured and retained in rural areas rather than being drawn inexorably along the food chain towards the multiple retailers and out of the locality [9,21]. Although this has been primarily a farm centred notion of rural development, there are many reasons to believe that this can be extended to many primary producers of other food products [22].…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectives From Rural Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The products backed through certification schemes, either reflecting a provenance and/or attainment of an environmental standard, can become the vehicle through which economic as well as social and cultural goals can be obtained [26]. In some instances links are formed between these products and tourism so that the food bridges different industries [21]. The bulk of food products may remain commodities traded with associations of place stripped away, but those foods that have a story are providing considerable gains for both producers and communities, such as in Farmers' Markets [19].…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectives From Rural Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond fish as commodities: Understanding the socio-cultural role of inshore fisheries in England

et al. 2013

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“…Burton (2004) for example, found that environmental practices were being marginalised to small sections of the farm, rather than being integrated into farming activities across the whole farm; Mittenzwei et al (2010) found that environmental designation had very little impact on changes made to farm management practices. In line with this are concerns about the extent to which multifunctionalityrecognition of the multiple functions of farming such as environmental maintenance, and rural economic development in addition to commodity production -is being expressed at farm level Jongeneel et al, 2008;Morgan et al, 2010). In these cases, the tendency is to point out the persistent 'productivism' of farming households, which continue to emphasise the importance of the farm as a place of production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Triggering change: Towards a conceptualisation of major change processes in farm decision-making

Sutherland

Burton

Ingram

et al. 2012

Journal of Environmental Management

183

100

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DisclaimerThe University of Gloucestershire has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material.The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited.The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation that the use of the materials will not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights.The University of Gloucestershire accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view pending investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR TEXT.This is a peer-reviewed, post-print ( DisclaimerThe University of Gloucestershire has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material.The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited.The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation that the use of the materials will not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights.The University of Gloucestershire accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view pending investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement. Bill Slee, James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland AbstractIn this paper, we present a broad conceptualisation of change in farm-level trajectories. We argue that as a result of path dependency, major changes in farming practice primarily occur in response to 'trigger events', after which farm managers intensify their consideration of the options open to them, and may set a new course of action. In undertaking new actions, the farm system enters a period of instability, while new practices become established. Over time these new practices, if successfully achieving anticipated aims, lead to a further period of path dependency. Recognising and capitalising upon this pattern of events is important for the development of policies oriented towards incentivising major change in farming practices, and may explain why similar projects and/or policies influence some 'types' of farmers differently, and at different times. To illustrate our arguments, examples of this process are described in relation empirical examples of major on-farm change processes, drawn from qualitative interviews with organic and conventional farmers in two English case study areas.

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Agricultural multifunctionality and farmers' entrepreneurial skills: A study of Tuscan and Welsh farmers

Cited by 149 publications

References 16 publications

Farmers’ Own Research: Organic Farmers’ Experiments in Austria and Implications for Agricultural Innovation Systems

Farmers’ Own Research: Organic Farmers’ Experiments in Austria and Implications for Agricultural Innovation Systems

Beyond fish as commodities: Understanding the socio-cultural role of inshore fisheries in England

Triggering change: Towards a conceptualisation of major change processes in farm decision-making

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