Patterns of resource use on Danish organic farms - aspects of farm based rural development

Summary

With changing societal goals for the rural areas, the question what role organic farming may play in rural development arises. Based on interviews with 10% of Danish organic farms, we explore which types of organic farms exist in terms of resources used for agricultural activity, what role do other types of income activities play and how are the different strategies co-existing or complementing eachother. Based on resource use on organic farms by farmer and spouse, less than half of the farms can be characterzed as full-time farms, with part-time farms making up one third and hobby farms 17%. More than half of the organic farms are managed by a farmer with the main income from off-farm work, and half of the farms engage in Other Farm-based Activities (OFAs). Direct marketing is the single most frequent OFA, whereas OFAs with no link to agriculture is the most frequent group. Engagement in OFAs seem to be coexisting with expansion in farmed area. This increasing diversity in farm households presents a challenge to rural development policies.