Understanding Farm Succession as Socially Constructed Endogenous Cycles

Abstract

European agriculture is experiencing a recruitment crisis that threatens the continuation of both family farming and associated rural communities. Conventionally, researchers and policymakers see farm succession as driven by discrete factors such as education level, farm size, profitability, enterprise type, and so on. This article offers an alternative perspective. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 22 farm families in Scotland, it uses a single case-study to outline the concept of endogenous succession cycles based on the iterative and interlinked development of successor identity and farm structure. In this way, succession is seen as predominantly socially constructed. We suggest that the key to succession lies in the development and maintenance of these endogenous cycles as, when they are broken or uninitiated, attracting a successor on to the farm is likely to be exceptionally difficult whatever the policy incentive. We conclude that the current crisis can partly be explained by the breakdown of early childhood socialisation, a key stage of the cycle, caused by changes to agriculture such as the use of larger machinery, more health and safety regulations, fewer farm workers, and so on. As a result, the process of constructing successor identities in early childhood through extended contact between the farmer, the child and the farm is becoming increasingly difficult. The need for a socially constructivist understanding of family farm successionA lthough family farming 1 remains the dominant form of farm organisation in many parts of the economically developed world, e.g., USA, Europe (Brookfield 2008) and Australia (Pritchard et al. 2007), the certainty of continuity is declining. Factors such as the ongoing price-cost squeeze, land price inflation, changing rural and non-rural labour markets, changing agricultural policy regimes, and increasingly individualistic values are all contributing to the decline in the successful intergenerational transfer of family farms. This has concerned researchers for many years and spawned a considerable number of investigations into farm succession 2 .Most have followed what we term 'factor-based' approaches where succession is seen as the result of a combination of favourable discrete factors.

A matter of family? An analysis of determinants of farm succession in Polish agriculture

“…increase in life expectancy), the reluctance of young people to take over the farms and the unwillingness of older managers to transfer them (Copus et al, 2006). Generational change in agriculture is also limited by the increasing costs of setting up a business (especially because of the high land prices), weakening the socialisation into agricultural occupations in rural families, as well as a signifi cant income gap between farming and non-farming branches of the economy (EC, 2013a;Fischer and Burton, 2014). Therefore, it is even argued that the farm succession process in Europe is in crisis, and that this could threaten the economic competitiveness of family farming as well as its sustainability, as well as the viability of rural areas in many countries and regions (Burton and Fischer, 2015).…”

Strategic and Crisis Management in Agricultural Enterprises in the Czech Republic

“…Education and understanding of compliance of rights and obligations of the employees is a matter of internal motivation, which is unenforceable (as stated by Cimrmannová, 2015). Fischer and Burton (2014) claim, that European agriculture is experiencing a recruitment crisis that threatens the continuation of both family farming and associated rural communities (Chiswell and Lobley, 2015). There is cause to believe a succession crisis is being experienced in many parts of Europe.…”

Effect of the family life cycle on the family farm scale in Southern China

“…In addition, some scholars pay attention to the relationship between the successors and the family farm succession. Fischer and Burton (2014) argue that the family farm succession is by nature socially constructed rather than a matter of the 'rational' choices. The window of opportunity for constructing a 'natural' successor identity is to foster passion, pride, and connectedness to the farmland from the beginning of childhood.…”