IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agisys/v158y2017icp39-49.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Small can be beautiful for organic market gardens: an exploration of the economic viability of French microfarms using MERLIN

Author

Listed:
  • Morel, Kevin
  • San Cristobal, Magali
  • Léger, François Gilbert

Abstract

Microfarms are commercial soil-based market gardens cultivating organic vegetables with less than 1.5ha per farmer in rural France. Microfarms typically grow crops in both outdoor and protected (tunnel) areas. Despite their growing popularity among young farmers with no agricultural background, there are no data on expected income generated by these small-scale farms. Our objective was to determine the economic viability generated by a given agricultural area based on distinct microfarm scenarios. We used the stochastic model MERLIN to simulate 18microfarm scenarios combining three technical systems (varying with respect to the mechanization level, use of commercial inputs, cropping density, and number of cropping cycles per year), two marketing strategies (varying with respect to the length of the selling period and the range of crops grown), and three investment hypotheses (varying with respect to the level of bank loans and the percentage of workload used for self-built equipment). Viability was calculated from the number of simulations that generated a selected minimum monthly income (600, 1,000, or 1,400 Euro) for a maximum annual workload (1,800 or 2,500h).

Suggested Citation

  • Morel, Kevin & San Cristobal, Magali & Léger, François Gilbert, 2017. "Small can be beautiful for organic market gardens: an exploration of the economic viability of French microfarms using MERLIN," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 39-49.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:158:y:2017:i:c:p:39-49
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2017.08.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X17302287
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agsy.2017.08.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fischer, Joern & Abson, David J. & Butsic, Van & Chappell, M. Jahi & Ekroos, Johan & Hanspach, Jan & Kuemmerle, Tobias & Smith, Henrik G. & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2014. "Land sparing versus land sharing: Moving forward," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(3), pages 149-157.
    2. Sarah Taylor Lovell, 2010. "Multifunctional Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Land Use Planning in the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(8), pages 1-24, August.
    3. Carter, Michael R, 1984. "Identification of the Inverse Relationship between Farm Size and Productivity: An Empirical Analysis of Peasant Agricultural Production," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(1), pages 131-145, March.
    4. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea, 1985. "Farm size, land yields and the agricultural production function: An analysis for fifteen developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 513-534, April.
    5. Peter Rosset, 2000. "The Multiple Functions and Benefits of Small Farm Agriculture in the Context of Global Trade Negotiations," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 43(2), pages 77-82, June.
    6. Mads V. Markussen & Michal Kulak & Laurence G. Smith & Thomas Nemecek & Hanne Østergård, 2014. "Evaluating the Sustainability of a Small-Scale Low-Input Organic Vegetable Supply System in the United Kingdom," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-33, April.
    7. Hansen, J. W. & Jones, J. W., 1996. "A systems framework for characterizing farm sustainability," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 185-201, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paola Gullino & Luca Battisti & Federica Larcher, 2018. "Linking Multifunctionality and Sustainability for Valuing Peri-Urban Farming: A Case Study in the Turin Metropolitan Area (Italy)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.
    2. Pierre Chiaverina & Sophie Drogué & Florence Jacquet & Larry Lev & Robert King, 2023. "Does short food supply chain participation improve farm economic performance? A meta‐analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(3), pages 400-413, May.
    3. Poczta-Wajda, Agnieszka, 2020. "Economic Viability Of Family Farms In Europe – A Literature Review," Roczniki (Annals), Polish Association of Agricultural Economists and Agribusiness - Stowarzyszenie Ekonomistow Rolnictwa e Agrobiznesu (SERiA), vol. 2020(4).
    4. Martin, Guillaume & Barth, Kerstin & Benoit, Marc & Brock, Christopher & Destruel, Marie & Dumont, Bertrand & Grillot, Myriam & Hübner, Severin & Magne, Marie-Angélina & Moerman, Marie & Mosnier, Clai, 2020. "Potential of multi-species livestock farming to improve the sustainability of livestock farms: A review," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    5. Mcdougall, Robert & Rader, Romina & Kristiansen, Paul, 2020. "Urban agriculture could provide 15% of food supply to Sydney, Australia, under expanded land use scenarios," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    6. Jiao Huang & Ze Liang & Shuyao Wu & Shuangcheng Li, 2019. "Grain Self-Sufficiency Capacity in China’s Metropolitan Areas under Rapid Urbanization: Trends and Regional Differences from 1990 to 2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-23, April.
    7. Paut, Raphaël & Sabatier, Rodolphe & Tchamitchian, Marc, 2019. "Reducing risk through crop diversification: An application of portfolio theory to diversified horticultural systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 123-130.
    8. Benjamin Ruch & Margita Hefner & André Sradnick, 2023. "Excessive Nitrate Limits the Sustainability of Deep Compost Mulch in Organic Market Gardening," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-13, May.
    9. Konrád Kiss & Csaba Ruszkai & Katalin Takács-György, 2019. "Examination of Short Supply Chains Based on Circular Economy and Sustainability Aspects," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-21, September.
    10. Pépin, Antonin & Morel, Kevin & van der Werf, Hayo M.G., 2021. "Conventionalised vs. agroecological practices on organic vegetable farms: Investigating the influence of farm structure in a bifurcation perspective," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Barrett, Christopher B., 1996. "On price risk and the inverse farm size-productivity relationship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 193-215, December.
    2. Song, Chunxiao & Liu, Ruifeng & Oxley, Oxley & Ma, Hengyun, 2018. "The adoption and impact of engineering-type measures to address climate change: evidence from the major grain-producing areas in China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 62(4), October.
    3. Mensah, Edouard R. & Kostandini, Genti, 2020. "The inverse farm size-productivity relationship under land size mis-measurement and in the presence of weather and price risks: Panel data evidence from Uganda," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304477, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Thapa, Sridhar, 2007. "The relationship between farm size and productivity: empirical evidence from the Nepalese mid-hills," 106th Seminar, October 25-27, 2007, Montpellier, France 7940, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Scandizzo, Pasquale Lucio & Savastano, Sara, 2009. "Optimal Farm Size under an Uncertain Land Market: the Case of Kyrgyz Republic," 111th Seminar, June 26-27, 2009, Canterbury, UK 52844, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Larson,Donald F. & Muraoka,Rie & Otsuka,Keijiro, 2016. "On the central role of small farms in African rural development strategies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7710, The World Bank.
    7. Tasso Adamopoulos & Diego Restuccia, 2020. "Land Reform and Productivity: A Quantitative Analysis with Micro Data," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 1-39, July.
    8. Heltberg, Rasmus, 1998. "Rural market imperfections and the farm size-- productivity relationship: Evidence from Pakistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(10), pages 1807-1826, October.
    9. Kimhi, Ayal, 2003. "Plot Size And Maize Productivity In Zambia: The Inverse Relationship Re-Examined," Discussion Papers 14980, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management.
    10. Darla Munroe, 2001. "Economic Efficiency in Polish Peasant Farming: An International Perspective," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(5), pages 461-471.
    11. Pépin, Antonin & Morel, Kevin & van der Werf, Hayo M.G., 2021. "Conventionalised vs. agroecological practices on organic vegetable farms: Investigating the influence of farm structure in a bifurcation perspective," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    12. Sara Savastano & Pasquale Lucio Scandizzo, 2009. "Optimal farm size in an uncertain land market: the case of Kyrgyz Republic," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(s1), pages 745-758, November.
    13. Alexis Rampa & Yiorgos Gadanakis & Gillian Rose, 2020. "Land Reform in the Era of Global Warming—Can Land Reforms Help Agriculture Be Climate-Smart?," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-24, November.
    14. Morel, Kevin & San Cristobal, Magali & Léger, François Gilbert, 2018. "Simulating incomes of radical organic farms with MERLIN: A grounded modeling approach for French microfarms," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 89-101.
    15. Graeub, Benjamin E. & Chappell, M. Jahi & Wittman, Hannah & Ledermann, Samuel & Kerr, Rachel Bezner & Gemmill-Herren, Barbara, 2016. "The State of Family Farms in the World," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-15.
    16. Holden, Stein & Fisher, Monica, 2013. "Can area measurement error explain the inverse farm size productivity relationship?," CLTS Working Papers 12/13, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Centre for Land Tenure Studies, revised 10 Oct 2019.
    17. Sarthak Gaurav & Srijit Mishra, 2011. "Size-class and returns to cultivation in India: A Cold case reopened," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2011-027, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    18. Luo, Yufeng & Chen, Feifei & Qiu, Huanguang, 2018. "Plot size and maize production efficiency in China: agricultural involution and mechanization," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274364, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Leonardo A. Lanzona Jr., 2019. "Agrarian Reform and Democracy: Lessons from the Philippine Experience," Millennial Asia, , vol. 10(3), pages 272-298, December.
    20. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus, 2014. "Is there a farm-size productivity relationship in African agriculture ? evidence from Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6770, The World Bank.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:158:y:2017:i:c:p:39-49. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agsy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.