Factors affecting farm succession: the case of Slovenia

Abstract

285Farms are most often under the family ownership (as family farms) and they are therefore the only part of society that must ensure its own social and professional reproduction. on family farms, the supervision over the farm management and ownership is transferred within the family between generations (gasson and Errington 1993). Succession on a farm is therefore the basis for a farm's existence and development. According to Laband and Lantz (1983), the succession on family farms is five times more frequent than in other professions and it represents the best example of the intergenerational transfer of physical and human capital. During the socialization process, a potential successor on a farm receives a detailed insight into the work of the farm owner and the farming lifestyle, a direct experience, and an intergenerational transfer of knowledge, and at the same time he/she develops respect for all of this, especially for the land as a primary resource for making a living on the farm. Therefore, according to Laband and Lentz (1983), the transfer of human capital between generations in the same family also represents its enrichment, and at the same time, this increases the value of physical capital -both its actual value as well as the awareness of its value. in order for this to happen, basic conditions must be fulfilled; specifically, that the takeover of the farm and the continuation of farming actually take place, and that the transfer of the farm to the successor take place in a timely manner.one of the major problems of agriculture in developed countries is a reduction in the number of farm takeovers or the transfer of farms to successors. The European Union is trying to stop these negative trends through certain measures. on the one hand, this involves support for young farmers to take over farms, carried out in the form of one-time, non-repayable financial assistance for an easier takeover and a structural adaptation of the farm after takeover; on the other hand, this involves the support for the early retirement of farmers, which is carried out in the form of annual annuities to elderly farmers that stop engaging in the profit-oriented agricultural and forestry activities on the farm as a result of transferring the farm to a successor.As a member state of the European Union, Slovenia is entitled to funds under these measures. Promoting the takeover of farms and their timely transfer is especially important in Slovenia because the state of succession and the age structure of owners on Slovenian farms is very worrisome: according to the official statistics, only 23% of farms have a chosen successor, the average age of owners is over 56, and the share of owners over 55 is more than 55% and increasing. nonetheless, the EU measures, which are primarily based on financial incentives, are too small to keep young people farming in Slovenia and to ensure the timely transfer of farms. Farm succession is very complex and it is therefore hypothesized that economic factors are not the only factors that affect far...

Structural features, labor conditions and family succession in dairy production systems in Paraná State, Brazil

“…However, when considering that family succession is multidimensional, including economic, social, relational and behavioral aspects (Gris et al, 2017;Kerbler, 2012;Suess-Reyes and Fuetsch, 2016), we can infer that other factors than structure and labor conditions are affecting individual conditions for family succession in this study.…”

Factors Affecting the Household Succession in Agricultural Occupation in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand

“…Questionnaires were used to gather the quantitative data, and were designed based on data collection references and previous research studies [8,13]. The contents of the questionnaire were adjusted to cover all the information required to meet the goal of this study.…”

“…Qualitative data were gathered using a structured interview template which, like the questionnaire, was also designed based on data collection references and research studies [13,21]. The contents were adjusted to cover all the possible information required to meet the needs of this study, such as (1) agricultural information (production and marketing), (2) background of the farming business, (3) opinion of the new generation towards succession in agricultural occupation, and (4) guidelines for the promotion of agricultural occupation to the new generation.…”

“…As hypothesized, the independent variable for this study was influenced by fourteen parameters-representatives of X-human, institutional, economic and natural conditions, on individual scale which were mostly selected based on the parameters used in the study of Kerbler [13]. These parameters were divided in three groups; personal factors, agricultural production factors, and positive attitude toward agricultural occupation as shown in Table 1.…”

“…Sex of the respondents can highly determine the acceptance of the new generation of agricultural family to do farming [30]. Age indicates the comprehensiveness to suitably operate the farms [13]. Marital status, which is one of the family features, can lead to negative stress level in farming affecting the efficiency of succeeding in the farm operations [31].…”