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Diversification and specialisation as development strategies in organic farms

Zander, Dr. Katrin (2008) Diversification and specialisation as development strategies in organic farms. Poster at: Cultivating the Future Based on Science: 2nd Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research ISOFAR, Modena, Italy, June 18-20, 2008.

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Summary

Unsatisfying economic performance, continuous work overload or the entrance of the younger generation are often the starting point for reorientation of the farm’s organisation in order to increase the farm’s efficiency. Theoretically, farmers are faced with two main options when looking for a viable farm strategy: diversification or specialisation. Based on a quantitative and qualitative survey of 40 farms, the results show that the decision to either diversify or specialise is usually a multi-dimensional issue. Only the analyses of the interactions between many different factors may help to understand the decision processes on farms. One central result of the study is that the personality of the farmer is the key driving factor in the decision on specialisation or diversification. The study also reveals that, whereas cost reduction is observed to be a valuable strategy in conventional farming, it seems to be of very limited relevance in organic farming in Germany.


EPrint Type:Conference paper, poster, etc.
Type of presentation:Poster
Keywords:diversification, specialisation, organic farming, socio-economics, Germany
Subjects: Farming Systems > Farm economics
Research affiliation: International Conferences > 2008: IFOAM OWC: Research Track / ISOFAR > 5.1 Farm economics
Deposited By: Zander, Dr. Katrin
ID Code:11669
Deposited On:06 Oct 2008
Last Modified:12 Apr 2010 07:35
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted
Additional Publishing Information:This paper is published in the conference proceedings:
Neuhoff, Daniel; Halberg, Niels; Alfldi, Thomas; Lockeretz, William; Thommen, Andreas; Rasmussen, Ilse A.; Hermansen, John; Vaarst, Mette; Lck, Lorna; Carporali, Fabio; Jensen, Henning Hgh; Migliorini, Paola and Willer, Helga, Eds. (2008) .Cultivating the Future Based on Science. Proceedings of the Second Scientific Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), held at the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress in Cooperation with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the Consorzio ModenaBio, 18 . 20 June 2008 in Modena, Italy.. International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), c/o IOL, DE-Bonn, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, CH-Frick. http://orgprints.org/13672 and http://orgprints.org/13674

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