Farm succession, occupational choice and farm adaptation at the rural-urban interface: The case of Italian horticultural farms

Abstract

The survival of family farming in Europe is a crucial issue, as it assures landscape maintenance in marginal areas and provides transmission and accumulation of site-specific knowledge in agricultural activity. Using data from a sample of Italian horticultural farms, we explored the multiple forces driving farm succession in a high value added sector. In addition to the traditional factors examined in the literature (farm, farmer and family features), we treated the farm transfer choice as the complement of the decision to migrate out of the agricultural sector, testing the effects of local labour market conditions (employment, income gap between farm and non-farm sector) and population density around the farm, as a proxy of rural-urban interface relationships. It has been shown that both traditional factors and territorial and labour market conditions influence the probability of farm succession. Interestingly labour market conditions exerted an effect in line with occupational choice theory only in less inhabited areas; in more densely populated regions a ruralurban linkage effect seems to prevail, creating an environment that fosters succession of young horticultural farmers. Peri-urban areas may thus be a favourable location for professional and specialized horticultural farms, as well as multifunctional and de-specialized ones, if their assets are properly protected against farmland subtraction. More generally, these findings confirm the validity of a more comprehensive approach toward farm succession, which takes occupational choice theory and rural-urban farm adaptation strategies into account.

A Tool for the Sustainability Assessment of Farms: Selection, Adaptation and Use of Indicators for an Italian Case Study

“…parameter enables the classification of farms on the base of their economic size. In line with the findings of [47,62], the framework has shown higher economic performances of farms with a higher value of SO. This is probably due to the existence of economies of scale in agricultural productions [71] but, according to [72], it has only some reflection in the environmental and social components (SOC_3-Work particularly).…”

“…Demographic characteristics of workers such as their nationality provenience, age and gender (Indicator 25) and their training level (Indicator 26) should also be considered as a key aspect for the growth of the agricultural sector [62].…”

Off-Farm Employment and Economic Crisis: Evidence from Cyprus

“…Farm succession can also influence off-farm labour decisions, as it affects the structure of farm holdings, thus providing the incentive to develop and expand farm activities over long periods [21]. The availability of a successor within the farm family is directly linked with farm survival [22].…”

The landscapes of professional farms in mid‐sized cities, France

“…The negative impacts are nevertheless accompanied by positive effects generated by proximity to the city. Indeed, proximity to urban markets permits the development of alternative farm models such as those utilising direct value chains (Bertoni & Cavicchioli, 2016;Paül & McKenzie, 2013;Wästfelt & Zhang, 2016). Indeed, proximity to urban markets permits the development of alternative farm models such as those utilising direct value chains (Bertoni & Cavicchioli, 2016;Paül & McKenzie, 2013;Wästfelt & Zhang, 2016).…”

“…Peri-urban spaces are places of agricultural production where direct links between urban consumers and farmers can be re-established (Aubry & Kebir, 2013). Indeed, proximity to urban markets permits the development of alternative farm models such as those utilising direct value chains (Bertoni & Cavicchioli, 2016;Paül & McKenzie, 2013;Wästfelt & Zhang, 2016). Moreover, peri-urban agriculture is considered a connecting point or hyphen between the city and the countryside.…”