Will future land based food and fibre production be in family or corporate hands? An analysis of farm land ownership and governance considering farmer characteristics as choice drivers. The New Zealand case

Nuthall, Peter L.; Old, Kevin

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.01.018

Cited by 20 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…When farmers allocate resources to their farm, they are likely to invest in activities that will bring the highest returns to cater for their family's needs and priorities [56]. In view of the highly significant difference between total income per ha in Middle and Lower Nyando, as well as in specific farming practices, the climatic and agroecological differences between the sites are a primary criterion of concern for the engagement in, and promotion of, specific climate-smart activities [1].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Effectively Enhance Sustainable Livelihoods in Smallholder Systems: A Comparative Study from Western Kenya

et al. 2019

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Increasing communities’ adaptive capacity is crucial to enhancing the sustainability of livelihoods and landscapes in smallholder systems. This study evaluates the contributions of an asset-based community-driven local development project, which has an objective to enhance farmer livelihoods through context-specific agricultural and agroforestry training, in line with farmers’ identities, interests, and preferences. The project was implemented in two areas of the wider Nyando river basin: the Lower and Middle Nyando sites. The project effects on farmer livelihoods were evaluated by analyzing overall income enhancement through the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices via the computation of total values of harvest. Socioeconomic data from 183 households, half of which were involved in the project, were considered. The findings showed that locality played an important role in the adoption and success of good agricultural practices. Additional significant positive factors included project participation, size of land operated, horticulture farming, livestock ownership, ownership of a title deed, hours worked, and crop species richness. The number of years farmed had a significant negative correlation with the value of harvest. Considering the stark differences in livelihood effects in both sites, researchers conclude that external support for climate-smart agriculture uptake needs to be considerate of, and respond to, biophysical and socioeconomic context.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Effectively Enhance Sustainable Livelihoods in Smallholder Systems: A Comparative Study from Western Kenya

et al. 2019

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“…In assessing possible factors, it is important to note by far the majority of farm businesses worldwide are single entity owner-operator systems (Nuthall and Old, 2017). The consequence is the manager makes most decisions even if a family is consulted.…”

Section: Factors Likely To Impact On Debt Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…chance of losing an off-farm job). Given by far the majority of farms are family farms (Nuthall and Old, 2017) few would argue against this model, thus requiring the inclusion of household variables in any loan assessment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmers’ characteristics’ and the propensity to reduce debt

Greig

Nuthall

Old

2019

AFR

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate a farm manager’s personal characteristics (personality, age, education, objectives, experience, etc.) as drivers of debt payback success and rates. Traditionally bankers have used historic business statistics, and equity levels, to assess loans and credit worthiness. It is hypothesised that a managers’ personal characteristics are likely to be a better predictor of future debt payback performance. Design/methodology/approach The literature was searched to isolate the managers’ personal variables likely to determine debt payback. The information led to defining a quantitative model based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) which was hypothesised as determining payback rates where a choice was available. A postal random stratified survey of NZ owner operator farm managers provided the data to test the model and define its parameters using regressions, structural equation modelling and statistical comparisons. Findings The modelling results make it clear a manager’s personal characteristics are highly correlated with debt payback and, logically, are very likely to be the drivers. Four random effects equations and a comparison of high- and low-debt payback managers led to this conclusion. Practical implications Bankers should use the managers’ personal characteristics, as defined in the regressions, alongside traditional measures when assessing farm business loan requests. This approach is opposite to the traditional methods using mainly historic data. Originality/value The use of the TPB in assessing debt payback is a new and novel approach showing how enduring personal characteristics can be used in assessing proposals, and particularly, entrepreneurs’ adventurist investments in situations where historic data are not available.

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“…They are part of the resources of any farm and reflect, respectively, the overall managerial ability of the farm manager and her or his links throughout the community. These resources, as well as a number of other important resources and factors (see Figure ), are critical to how well a farm and farm family can cope with any significant perturbations to the inputs and variables influencing outcomes from a farm (Nuthall & Old, show family farming is the main organisational structure worldwide). All these resources and factors, together with community relationships (Norris, Stevens, Pfefferbaum, Wyche, & Pfefferbaum, ), collectively impact on the concept of a farm's resilience, which is very important to Aotearoa New Zealand's (NZ's) economy as primary production produces over 60% of overseas exchange through its 40,000 economic primary production units.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience and finances on Aotearoa New Zealand farms: Evidence from a random survey on the sources and uses of debt

2019

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Debt and income are keystones to financial resilience on New Zealand farms. This article utilises a survey on finance to assess farm financial health using a new model of resilience. It shows the majority of farms are financially strong. Further borrowing and development are possible. With increasing variability resulting from the longer term trade liberalisation as well as global warming impacts, the high equity will provide future resilience. On the other hand, profit levels are not high relative to the investment, but this has been the case for decades and has not caused problems due to farmer and farm family resilience. K E Y W O R D Sfarm debt, financial resilience, financing cost and payment, New Zealand, source of finance, use of finance

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Will future land based food and fibre production be in family or corporate hands? An analysis of farm land ownership and governance considering farmer characteristics as choice drivers. The New Zealand case

Cited by 20 publications

References 43 publications

How to Effectively Enhance Sustainable Livelihoods in Smallholder Systems: A Comparative Study from Western Kenya

How to Effectively Enhance Sustainable Livelihoods in Smallholder Systems: A Comparative Study from Western Kenya

Farmers’ characteristics’ and the propensity to reduce debt

Resilience and finances on Aotearoa New Zealand farms: Evidence from a random survey on the sources and uses of debt

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