Although the educational function in agriculture is attracting growing attention as a kind of multifunctionality in agriculture, these services are not yet provided as a viable farm product. This paper explores how the educational externality could be internalized to establish a viable market...

To promote multifunctional activity, it is crucial to clarify how jointness is formed in connection with farm structure. This paper examines the relationship between multifunctional activity and farm structure by focusing on the educational function of dairy farming, i.e., farming experience...

Farm planning often focuses on optimal diversification with respect to risk, where the risk-management strategies combine production, marketing, financial and environmental aspects of the farm-firm. In this study an empirical examination of diversification has been carried out using a sample of...

The theme of this paper is the impact of participation in an environmental scheme on the host SME and the measurement of other entrepreneurial activity associated with the same SMEs. The following work objectives were adopted: To examine a representative sub sample of these SME participants and...

One of the common strategies in rural development programmes is to support the adoption of new on-farm activities. The rationale behind this is that farm diversification is a way to assure an appropriate level of income for the farmers. Through interviews with 49 relatively small farmers, the...

Growers in the sugarcane industry have been struggling under financial pressure for several years. One option to improve farm viability might be to diversify farm enterprise income. Choice Modelling, an economic valuation technique, was used to explore the trade-offs growers make between...

This paper builds on the outcomes of a state-of-the-art review of research for the European research project MULTAGRI, with a particular focus on the conceptualisation of Multifunctional Agriculture (MFA) from a 'supply side' perspective. It argues that a consistent and satisfactory conceptual...

This work analyzes farm diversification activities in an Italian region (Marche). The study examines 387 farms from Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) over a six-year period (2000-2005), applying Discrete Choice Models to identify their business. Recognizing the driving forces of such...

The growth of niche markets in rural industries has been one response to the restructuring of established agricultural industries in developed countries. In some cases entry into niche markets is part of a diversification of activities from other areas of farm-based production or services. In...