What Factors Encourage Intrafamily Farm Succession in Mountain Areas?

Abstract

Family farming plays a vital role in mountain areas. Its survival is related to multiple factors, including intrafamily farm succession. This study examined data on apple-producing family farms in an Italian Alpine valley, trying to identify which factors foster or discourage intrafamily succession and to what extent they do this, both at the farm level and from the potential successor's viewpoint. To do so, various farm, farmer, and individual characteristics were analyzed using probabilistic regression. We found that intrafamily succession was more likely when the farm was managed by a woman (+20%) with a high school diploma (+13%) who had at least 1 child with specialized education in agriculture (+27%) and when farm sales had increased in recent years (+25%). We also found that a child's willingness to take over the family farm decreases as the number of farm children increases and when the child is a female with a high school diploma; however, the likelihood that children will take over the family business rises as farmer education level and work experience increase. These findings, while mixed, suggest that women play a key role in keeping family farming alive in mountain areas, along with education of family members, improved marketability of agricultural products, and in general, competitiveness and profitability of the family farm.

Formação profissional e a relação com a sucessão geracional entre jovens rurais, Brasil

“…Além disso, Matte e Machado (2016), em pesquisa na região Sul do Brasil, consideram este um aspecto importante para permanência do jovem no campo e sucessão familiar. À medida que participam nas atividades da propriedade, aliado a um nível maior de estudo na área agrícola, os jovens e as jovens são influenciados a valorizar o trabalho na agricultura e permanecer no campo (Cavicchioli et al, 2015).…”

“…Corroborando com os dados da presente pesquisa, em estudo realizado na região central do RS, Prediger (2009) concluiu que, em contraste com a geração dos pais, em que predominavam famílias numerosas, os jovens e as jovens da atualidade compõem grupos familiares cada vez menores. Na Itália a probabilidade de um jovem assumir a propriedade familiar aumenta (15.5 %) à medida que diminui o número de jovens presentes na propriedade (Cavicchioli et al, 2015;Simeone, 2007). Já no Brasil, famílias pequenas conseguirão melhorar sua renda com a mecanização na agricultura (Alves, Lopes, & Contini, 1999).…”

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

“…Indeed, variables related to family succession can be quite complex. For example, the steady supply of family labor, typical of dairying (Mishra and El-Osta, 2007), may favor family ties and identity to dairy activity, thus influencing individual conditions to family succession; farming experience may influence family succession (Cavicchioli et al, 2015), which may help us to understand why farmers in Group 1 are more prone to family succession. Even in the economic perspective, the issue may be twofold: many dairy farmers, for example, consider the monthly income as a relevant element for family succession (Mishra and El-Osta, 2007), even if the profitability is not so interesting.…”

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

“…Therefore, it is important to create a positive attitude among the youths towards agricultural occupations. One study showed that succession is +27% more likely when the children have specialized education in agriculture [20]. Therefore, related agencies can establish programs on agriculture or interlace relevant lessons into the different training courses or curriculum for the targeted groups of youths and children.…”