How do farmers’ pluriactivity projects evolve?

Abstract

Long criticized, pluriactivity is now perceived as an alternative agricultural strategy and it is becoming a subject of support policies. However, having an off-farm job generates organizational issues that can penalize the viability of this strategy. In this paper, we study the initial motivations of pluriactivity and the strategies developed by farmers over time to handle pluriactivity difficulties and we examine conditions that lead to permanent pluriactivity or not. We use an original qualitative approach interviewing 29 pluriactive farmers in “Nord-Pas de Calais”, region located in northern France. Our results show that pluriactivity is a dynamic strategy and farmers develop different strategies to adapt their pluriactivity over time to their farm requirements and time constraints. We find that most of the trajectories lead to a permanent pluriactive status, but pluriactivity lasts longer when both activities adapt to each other.

Farmers’ motivations and behaviour regarding the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices and activities

“…Four of them are focused on African countries. The studies report interesting insights into the analysis of farmers' aspirations (Deißler et al, 2023), of the factors affecting the adoption of strategies for adapting to climate change (Onyenekwe et al, 2023), of diversifying in off-farm activities (Ceriani et al, 2023), of improving economic, social and environmental sustainability with livelihood strategies (Prazeres, 2023) and agroforestry practices (Seegers et al, 2023).…”

“…The paper of Ceriani et al (2023) entitled "How do farmers' pluriactivity project evolve?" investigates the motivations that lead farmers to diversify their income through off-farm activities, the barriers to diversification, and the management strategies for a long-lasting choice.…”