Competitiveness of diversification strategies in agricultural dairy farms: Empirical findings for rural regions in Switzerland

Hochuli, Andreas; Hochuli, Janina; Schmid, Dierk

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.01.021

Cited by 27 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…While the collection of qualitative data allows us to capture the richness and diversity of the context, the use of quantitative methods offers legitimacy to our results [34]. In this sense, our study makes a significant contribution to the literature regarding the effect of diversification on farm results, overcoming one of the limitations posed by previous studies that lack the information necessary to adequately separate the income and costs corresponding to diversification initiatives [23,84].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…The growth of milk production experienced by Spain in recent years accompanied by a significant reduction in the number of farms has accentuated their specialisation, leading to more intensive production systems, with greater dependence on the dairy industry and external purchases. These types of specialised farms present a high market risk, being very vulnerable to changes in milk prices [9,23]. Value-added diversification strategies seek to provide income to farmers, reducing the risk presented by specialisation strategies, as well as contributing to the other objectives of farmers related to the generation of family employment and lifestyle.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A substantial body of literature exists on agricultural diversification [14][15][16] and farm diversification strategies [17,18], but empirical studies analysing the influence on farm economic performance are scarce [19][20][21][22]. Most studies consider diversification as a pool of income-earning opportunities complementing the core agricultural production, without distinguishing between different types of activities [23]. There are only a few studies on value-added initiatives and their impact on farm profitability, mainly from a qualitative perspective [9,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Value-Creating Strategies in Dairy Farm Entrepreneurship: A Case Study in Northern Spain

Álvarez

García-Cornejo

Méndez

et al. 2021

Animals

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This paper explores different value-creating strategies (VCS) used by dairy farmers engaged in on-farm diversification ventures. In order to explicitly identify the informal strategies followed by 49 farmers in their value-added ventures, we applied a theoretically informed business model framework combining three dimensions: value proposition linked to local food, customer engagement via quality schemes and shorter supply chains, and the key capabilities of the entrepreneur. Using cluster analysis, four different types of VCS were identified and labelled as ‘Ecological’, ‘Single-product’, ‘Innovative’, and ‘Traditional’. Whilst we found that these strategies are influenced by contextual factors and the owner’s entrepreneurial skills, in general, we did not observe significant differences in performance between them. The results suggest that farmers respond entrepreneurially to sectorial changes adopting those VCS that tend to align with their entrepreneurial capabilities and context, thus enabling them to succeed with any of the strategies pursued. Hence, our work contributes towards clarifying the relationship between VCS, entrepreneurial capabilities, and context. This is important for farmers and policymakers because it reveals the diversity of farm management and the resilience of farm systems. As a result, the potential challenges for Single-product VCS and Traditional VCS are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Value-Creating Strategies in Dairy Farm Entrepreneurship: A Case Study in Northern Spain

Álvarez

García-Cornejo

Méndez

et al. 2021

Animals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Secondly, from the micro perspective, the determinants of famers’ diversification strategies and their impacts on farmers’ welfare and on the ecosystem have been ignored in our study due to the lack of microdata at the household level. In fact, different production units have different strategy options [ 102 ]; it is the farmers who decide whether to diversify or not [ 103 ], and AD does have an impact on farmers’ welfare and adoption of technology [ 104 ] and on the resilience of the agrosystem [ 105 ]. Therefore, factors underlying farmers’ decisions for agricultural diversification, especially the impact of government policy on farmers’ options [ 106 ], deserve special attention, and the potential impacts of regional and national agricultural diversification on ecosystem functions require a thorough study in the future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Agricultural Diversification in China and Its Policy Implications for Agricultural Modernization

Han

2021

IJERPH

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Based on the value of agricultural farm products produced by different subsectors in China, the foregoing analysis reveals the dynamic character of agricultural diversification by which, this study seeks to examine the evolutionary process of Chinese agriculture through a quantitative study of agricultural diversification at both national and provincial levels. In the initial stages of reform and opening up, the degree of agricultural diversification in the southwest was relatively high; then the center of agricultural diversification gradually moved to the southeast of China; finally, the degree of agricultural diversification in the economically developed eastern provinces was obviously higher than those in other regions in 2019. It was seen that some provinces in the eastern and central south regions moved toward increasing diversification in one direction, and other provinces changed direction, first moving toward diversification and later toward concentration or vice versa. These oscillations implied that there was a cyclic tendency of agricultural diversification along with an increase in per capita GDP. Generally speaking, the patterns of diversification differed across regions due to diversified agricultural subsectors resulting from different natural and socio-economic circumstances. In particular, in less developed regions with lower agricultural diversification levels, farming agriculture persistently dominated the leading position with relatively more resistance to modernizing trends in other aspects of agriculture. It is urgent for the Chinese government to figure out ways off reconciling agricultural productivity with environmental quality through the ecological intensification of agriculture.

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“…The following authors enriched the specialty literature in terms of crop competitiveness or agricultural country's competitiveness as follows: (Greblikaite, et al, 2019) -berry farm's performance; (Hristov, et al, 2019) -Bulgarian sunflower; (Hochuli, et al, 2021) -the dairy farms in Switzerland; (Comanescu, et al, 2019) -Romania and the role of funding for a sustainable development; (Radzivill, et al, 2019) -Ukrainian agricultural sector and (Cosovic, et al, 2019) -wrote about the efforts Bosnia and Herzegovina are making to increase competitiveness in the agriculture sector.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of EAFRD Allocation and Innovation’s Role Towards a Competitive European Agriculture Sector

Șerbănel¹

2021

New Trends in Sustainable Business and Consumption

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The present paper investigates the allocation of the European agricultural fund for rural development (EAFRD) at the European Union (EU) 's member state level and pursues to confirm or deny, subject to the case, the existence of symbiotic relation amid the amount of EAFRD absorption and the value of agricultural exports. Furthermore, the article introduces a visual scheme to explore the role of innovation, research and development, and technology in achieving competitiveness in the agriculture sector.The analysis employed a quantitative approach and extracted data from the European Commission database-the 2014-2020 period -regarding the European Structural and Investments Funds and the Atlas of Economic Complexity database -for 2018 -to evaluate agricultural exports' value. As a general perspective of the EAFRD fund absorption, for the eleven axes encompassed, at the top of the rank were identified Italy, France, Germany, and Spain while, at the opposite pole, there are classified Malta, Cyprus, and Luxemburg. The results validated a direct relationship between the amount of absorbed EAFRD and the agricultural exports for France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland. Besides, there were discovered exceptions among Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark. Since there are few research pieces conducted to analyze the allocation of EAFRD, the current paper enriches the scientific literature in this sphere. Moreover, the article proposes an original scheme model that emphasizes the factors required to stimulate agricultural competitiveness.

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Competitiveness of diversification strategies in agricultural dairy farms: Empirical findings for rural regions in Switzerland

Cited by 27 publications

References 37 publications

Value-Creating Strategies in Dairy Farm Entrepreneurship: A Case Study in Northern Spain

Value-Creating Strategies in Dairy Farm Entrepreneurship: A Case Study in Northern Spain

Patterns of Agricultural Diversification in China and Its Policy Implications for Agricultural Modernization

An Overview of EAFRD Allocation and Innovation’s Role Towards a Competitive European Agriculture Sector

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