Entrepreneurial Skills and their Role in Enhancing the Relative Independence of Farmers

Summary

Entrepreneurship is considered a crucial dynamic force in the development of small businesses in general. In agriculture, entrepreneurship is particularly relevant because farmers need to find ways to adapt their businesses to the changing structural environment. This book describes entrepreneurship in terms of its learnable and teachable aspects, and elaborates the concept of entrepreneurial skill in farming. It constitutes the final report of the EU-funded research project Developing Entrepreneurial Skills of Farmers, summarising and synthesising the results. In addition to elaborating a consistent concept of entrepreneurial skills in farming, the project analysed the factors influencing the learning of such skills and produced recommendations on how to adapt the political, institutional and educational framework in order to foster their development. Furthermore, an e-learning tool for farmers, which includes a self-assessment of entrepreneurial skills, was developed in the project and is described in the book.