Understanding the strategic decisions women make in farming families

Farmar-Bowers, Quentin

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2009.09.008

Cited by 28 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Farmers develop strategic plans considering changes in the business environment, including EU agricultural policies, national and local regulations, markets and technological and societal developments. Characteristics such as farmers' capabilities, farm size and partnerships also influence strategic decisions (Edwards-Jones 2006;Farmar-Bowers 2010;Darnhofer 2010). Farms, especially in Europe are small businesses with usually only family labour or with one or a few employed labourers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dairy farmers’ business strategies in Central and Eastern Europe based on evidence from Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia

Verhees

Malak-Rawlikowska

Stalgienė

et al. 2018

Italian Journal of Animal Science

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To evaluate market-oriented strategic decision-making by farmers in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) farm development paths of dairy farmers in Slovenia, Poland and Lithuania were analysed. The influence of internal strengths and weaknesses, external opportunities and threats, and farmer goals on strategic choices and performance were explored. Principal component, hierarchical cluster and regression analyses were performed to test the conceptual framework. Seven strategic groups emerged with specific development paths, that is, Wait and see, Movers, Chain integrators, Specializers and Diversifiers. The latter two split into cooperative and independent groups. Maximisation of profit and sustainable farming ranked highest as farming goals. Availability of land and labour were weaknesses for all strategic groups in all countries. External opportunities and threats varied between countries and to a lesser degree between strategic groups. The Wait and see and Cooperating diversifier groups gave less optimistic scores than other strategic groups. The attitudes of CEE farmers towards the market and future Common Agricultural Policy remain more negative than those of a group of Western European farmers. The results of this study confirm that internal strengths and weaknesses, external opportunities and threats, together with farmers' goals and strategies influence farmer performance, but independently of each other. Strategies do not appear to be a mediating variable between the internal and external environment of the farm and the performance of the farm. Policy makers, companies and extension workers should take the heterogeneity in strategic development into account when dealing with these and similar groups of farms.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dairy farmers’ business strategies in Central and Eastern Europe based on evidence from Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia

Verhees

Malak-Rawlikowska

Stalgienė

et al. 2018

Italian Journal of Animal Science

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“…However, the study does present an analysis of diverse perspectives that can challenge future social–ecological research to consider the role of gendered cultural resilience practices in social–ecological system resilience. Previous studies have documented the decision-making roles and experiences of farm women (Trauger 2004; Farmar-Bowers 2010; Alston 2014). Our study contributes to this body of literature by documenting the specific practices of women that help to maintain viable extensive beef production systems that operate with public lands grazing leases in the Western U.S.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on gender in both the rangeland literature and social–ecological system resilience is nearly absent in the context of the Western U.S. Much of the work exploring women in natural resource systems has been focused on developing nations (Coppock et al 2011), Australia (Farmar-Bowers 2010), or farming systems in the United States (Trauger 2004; Barbercheck et al 2014). Farmers and ranchers have been traditionally distinguished on cultural and productive terms in the Western United States.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Some years you live like a coyote: Gendered practices of cultural resilience in working rangeland landscapes

Wilmer

Fernández‐Giménez

2016

Ambio

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Rangeland researchers are increasingly interested in understanding working rangelands as integrated social–ecological systems and in investigating the contexts of human decision-making processes that support system resilience. U.S. public lands ranchers are key partners in rangeland conservation, but the role of women in building system resilience has not yet been explored. We conducted life-history interviews with 19 ranching women in the Southwestern United States. We analyzed the resulting transcripts by identifying contradictions between women’s material practices and traditional discourses in the ranching livelihood that illustrated women’s efforts to maintain both a way of life and a living during social and ecological change. These gendered practices of cultural resilience included self-sacrifice during difficult financial times, engagement with non-rancher networks, and efforts to transfer cultural and technical knowledge. We argue that the key part ranchers play in rangeland conservation cannot be fully understood without a consideration of gendered practices of cultural resilience.

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“…These results compare to those of Alston (2011) in relation to gendered adaptations to climate change, and support Alston's claim that there needs to be gender-sensitive policies and women's involvement in decision making in regard to climate change. On the other hand, women, through their identification with these domestic and administrative roles, were likely to favour beliefs that showed they had an interest in learning and nature conservation; emphasising the importance of women being given greater recognition and prominence in the design of policy to enhance the sustainability of family farms (Pretty et al 2010;Farmar-Bowers 2010;Alston 2003).…”

Section: Self-perceived Roles In Life and Achieving Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many women in agriculture have found increased capacities and involvement on their farms as well as in local or broader networks and organisations, thus rejecting the term 'farmer's wife' (Panelli 2005) and have begun to be associated with terms such as the 'new entrepreneurs' (Alston 2003). Business and administration roles that women have assumed within this changing agricultural regime have also increased their decision making and power within the productive space of farming (Riley 2009;Farmar-Bowers 2010). Male farmers, on the other hand, who have responded to agricultural restructuring through becoming more businessorientated tend to be less fixed by traditional notions of the 'farmer' (i.e.…”

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confidence: 99%

Self-perceived Roles in Life and Achieving Sustainability on Family Farms in North-eastern Australia

Lankester

2012

Australian Geographer

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Rural production landscapes in Australia are experiencing a rapid rate of change as a result of, among other factors, climate change, biodiversity loss and changing societal values. Consequently, there is increasing pressure on producers to increase their sustainability. Understanding how producers perceive themselves in the context of this changing landscape is limited but important for the design of policy effective for achieving sustainability. This paper is based on a case study in the north-eastern Australian rangelands that included face-to-face interviews with 28 beef producers and a telephone survey with another 91 producers. The study investigated male and female beef producers' self-perceived roles in life through a lens of different farming discourses and the relationship between these roles and beliefs aligned with sustainability. Results revealed that although producers' self-percieved roles in life were being constructed through a mix of more or less 'traditional' discourses, tradition was still a strong influence. Producers who strongly identified with roles linked to 'less traditional' discourses were more likely than those who strongly identified with production-orientated roles to agree with beliefs that favoured nature conservation, learning and adapting to change. Increased opportunities for producers to participate in alternative discourses would appear important for fostering a self-identity that is open to learning, difference and change.

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Understanding the strategic decisions women make in farming families

Cited by 28 publications

References 28 publications

Dairy farmers’ business strategies in Central and Eastern Europe based on evidence from Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia

Dairy farmers’ business strategies in Central and Eastern Europe based on evidence from Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia

Some years you live like a coyote: Gendered practices of cultural resilience in working rangeland landscapes

Self-perceived Roles in Life and Achieving Sustainability on Family Farms in North-eastern Australia

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