IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v96y2020ics0264837719308154.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Disadvantage and economic viability: characterising vulnerabilities and resilience in upland farming systems

Author

Listed:
  • Barnes, Andrew P.
  • Thomson, Steven G.
  • Ferreira, Joana

Abstract

Less Favoured Areas (LFA) were designated to support farming activity on land with limited productive potential. However, progressive land abandonment in these areas questions the rationale and targeting of support payments to maintain viable farming enterprises. Using micro level data on farm businesses over the period 2003-2016 matched to land capability and spatial data we identify the distribution of viable and vulnerable enterprises in Less Favoured Areas. We find five categories of household based on progressive quality of life thresholds, namely i. vulnerable, ii. sustainable, iii. viable, iv. resilient, and v. robust. A proportional odds model measured the effect of biophysical and remote disadvantage on predicting these states of viability, along with farm family lifecycle factors. Whilst we would expect higher proportions of disadvantaged farmland to be negatively related to viability, when combined with rural remoteness this increases the magnitude of the effect. However, clear succession planning and tenancy arrangements suggest that approaches to management of the business and the farm family life-cycle may overcome some of these disadvantages. These results have to be considered against the UK’s planned withdrawal from the Common Agricultural Policy. This offers opportunities to provide a more nuanced approach to targeting and supporting disadvantaged regions beyond current criteria. However, there would seem to be dissonance between the proposed payment for public goods agenda, which is results orientated, and support for correcting natural disadvantages where opportunities for delivery of these public goods will be limited.

Suggested Citation

  • Barnes, Andrew P. & Thomson, Steven G. & Ferreira, Joana, 2020. "Disadvantage and economic viability: characterising vulnerabilities and resilience in upland farming systems," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:96:y:2020:i:c:s0264837719308154
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104698
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837719308154
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104698?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. Lobley, Matt & Butler, Allan, 2010. "The impact of CAP reform on farmers' plans for the future: Some evidence from South West England," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 341-348, August.
    2. Thia Hennessy & Mark O’ Brien, 2006. "The Contribution of Off-Farm Income to the Viability of Farming in Ireland," Working Papers 0613, Rural Economy and Development Programme,Teagasc.
    3. Jeremy Phillipson & Matthew Gorton & Marian Raley & Andrew Moxey, 2004. "Treating Farms as Firms? the Evolution of Farm Business Support from Productionist to Entrepreneurial Models," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 22(1), pages 31-54, February.
    4. Matthews, K.B. & Wright, I.A. & Buchan, K. & Davies, D.A. & Schwarz, G., 2006. "Assessing the options for upland livestock systems under CAP reform: Developing and applying a livestock systems model within whole-farm systems analysis," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-3), pages 32-61, October.
    5. Clive Potter & Matt Lobley, 1996. "The Farm Family Life Cycle, Succession Paths And Environmental Change In Britain'S Countryside," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1‐4), pages 172-190, January.
    6. Paul Allanson & Kalina Kasprzyk & Andrew P. Barnes, 2017. "Income Mobility and Income Inequality in Scottish Agriculture," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(2), pages 471-493, June.
    7. Dieter Helm, 2017. "Agriculture after Brexit," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(suppl_1), pages 124-133.
    8. Ondersteijn, C. J. M. & Giesen, G. W. J. & Huirne, R. B. M., 2003. "Identification of farmer characteristics and farm strategies explaining changes in environmental management and environmental and economic performance of dairy farms," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 31-55, October.
    9. Simensen, Trond & Halvorsen, Rune & Erikstad, Lars, 2018. "Methods for landscape characterisation and mapping: A systematic review," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 557-569.
    10. Hooks, Teresa & Macken-Walsh, Áine & McCarthy, Olive & Power, Carol, 2017. "Farm-level viability, sustainability and resilience: a focus on co-operative action and values-based supply chains," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 119(3), December.
    11. Steve Wiggins & Sharon Proctor, 2001. "How Special Are Rural Areas? The Economic Implications of Location for Rural Development," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 19(4), pages 427-436, December.
    12. Eliana Lima & Thomas Hopkins & Emma Gurney & Orla Shortall & Fiona Lovatt & Peers Davies & George Williamson & Jasmeet Kaler, 2018. "Drivers for precision livestock technology adoption: A study of factors associated with adoption of electronic identification technology by commercial sheep farmers in England and Wales," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, January.
    13. Philip Garcia & Steven T. Sonka & Man Sik Yoo, 1982. "Farm Size, Tenure, and Economic Efficiency in a Sample of Illinois Grain Farms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 64(1), pages 119-123.
    14. JunJie Wu & Monica Fisher & Unai Pascual, 2011. "Urbanization and the Viability of Local Agricultural Economies," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 87(1), pages 109-125.
    15. Brown, Jason P. & Goetz, Stephan J. & Fleming, David A., 2012. "Multifunctional Agriculture and Farm Viability in the United States," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 126929, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Warren, Martyn, 0. "The digital vicious cycle: Links between social disadvantage and digital exclusion in rural areas," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6-7), pages 374-388, July.
    17. Kate Pangbourne & Deborah Roberts, 2015. "Small Towns and Agriculture: Understanding the Spatial Pattern of Farm Linkages," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 494-508, March.
    18. Duffy, Michael, 2009. "Economies of Size in Production Agriculture," Staff General Research Papers Archive 31282, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    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. 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).
    2. Artur Wilczyński & Ewa Kołoszycz, 2021. "Economic Resilience of EU Dairy Farms: An Evaluation of Economic Viability," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-14, May.
    3. Andrew P. Barnes, 2023. "The role of family life‐cycle events on persistent and transient inefficiencies in less favoured areas," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 295-315, February.
    4. Jianhong Fan & You Mo & Yunnan Cai & Yabo Zhao & Dongchen Su, 2021. "Evaluation of Community Resilience in Rural China—Taking Licheng Subdistrict, Guangzhou as an Example," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Barnes, A.P. & McMillan, J. & Sutherland, L.-A. & Hopkins, J. & Thomson, S.G., 2022. "Farmer intentional pathways for net zero carbon: Exploring the lock-in effects of forestry and renewables," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    6. Barnes, Andrew P. & Bevan, Kev & Moxey, Andrew & Grierson, Sascha & Toma, Luiza, 2023. "Identifying best practice in Less Favoured Area mixed livestock systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    7. Ogawa, Keishi & Garrod, Guy & Yagi, Hironori, 2023. "Sustainability strategies and stakeholder management for upland farming," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(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. Elias Giannakis & Sophia Efstratoglou & Artemis Antoniades, 2018. "Off-Farm Employment and Economic Crisis: Evidence from Cyprus," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-11, March.
    2. Abele Kuipers & Agata Malak-Rawlikowska & Aldona Stalgienė & Anita Ule & Marija Klopčič, 2021. "European Dairy Farmers’ Perceptions and Responses towards Development Strategies in Years of Turbulent Market and Policy Changes," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, March.
    3. Barnes, Andrew & Thomson, Steven & Ferreira, Joana, 2018. "Disadvantage and Economic Viability: Evidence from Scottish Upland Farming," 162nd Seminar, April 26-27, 2018, Budapest, Hungary 271954, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Arnott, David & Chadwick, David R. & Wynne-Jones, Sophie & Jones, David L., 2021. "Vulnerability of British farms to post-Brexit subsidy removal, and implications for intensification, extensification and land sparing," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    5. Larcher, Manuela & Engelhart, Reinhard & Vogel, Stefan, 2019. "Agricultural Professionalization of Austrian Family Farm Households the Effects of Vocational Attitude, Social Capital and Perception of Farm Situation," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 68(1), March.
    6. Barnes, A.P. & Soto, I. & Eory, V. & Beck, B. & Balafoutis, A. & Sánchez, B. & Vangeyte, J. & Fountas, S. & van der Wal, T. & Gómez-Barbero, M., 2019. "Exploring the adoption of precision agricultural technologies: A cross regional study of EU farmers," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 163-174.
    7. Hooks Teresa & Macken-Walsh Áine & McCarthy Olive & Power Carol & Henchion Maeve, 2018. "Co-Operation among Irish Beef Farmers: Current Perspectives and Future Prospects in the Context of New Producer Organisation (PO) Legislation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    8. Ashok Mishra & Barry Goodwin, 2006. "Revenue insurance purchase decisions of farmers," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 149-159.
    9. Asongu, Simplice & Boateng, Agyenim & Akamavi, Raphael, 2016. "Mobile Phone Innovation and Inclusive Human Development: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 75046, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Rich, Karl M. & Ross, R. Brent & Baker, A. Derek & Negassa, Asfaw, 2011. "Quantifying value chain analysis in the context of livestock systems in developing countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 214-222, April.
    11. Nadja Penko Seidl & Mateja Šmid Hribar & Jelka Hudoklin & Tomaž Pipan & Mojca Golobič, 2021. "Defining Landscapes, and Their Importance for National Identity—A Case Study from Slovenia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, June.
    12. Barbón, A. & Fortuny Ayuso, P. & Bayón, L. & Silva, C.A., 2023. "Experimental and numerical investigation of the influence of terrain slope on the performance of single-axis trackers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).
    13. Klerkx, Laurens & Leeuwis, Cees, 2008. "Institutionalizing end-user demand steering in agricultural R&D: Farmer levy funding of R&D in The Netherlands," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 460-472, April.
    14. Donati Michele & Wilkinson Adam & Veneziani Mario & Antonioli Federico & Arfini Filippo & Bodini Antonio & Amilien Virginie & Csillag Peter & Ferrer-Pérez Hugo & Gkatsikos Alexandros & Gauvrit Lisa & , 2021. "Economic Spill-Over of Food Quality Schemes on Their Territory," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 95-111, December.
    15. George Cusworth & Jennifer Dodsworth, 2021. "Using the ‘good farmer’ concept to explore agricultural attitudes to the provision of public goods. A case study of participants in an English agri-environment scheme," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(4), pages 929-941, December.
    16. Liu, Jingming & Hou, Xianhui & Wang, Zhanqi & Shen, Yue, 2021. "Study the effect of industrial structure optimization on urban land-use efficiency in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    17. Moreau, Pierre & Ruiz, Laurent & Vertès, Françoise & Baratte, Christine & Delaby, Luc & Faverdin, Philippe & Gascuel-Odoux, Chantal & Piquemal, Benoit & Ramat, Eric & Salmon-Monviola, Jordy & Durand, , 2013. "CASIMOD’N: An agro-hydrological distributed model of catchment-scale nitrogen dynamics integrating farming system decisions," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 41-51.
    18. Diao, Xinshen & Hazell, Peter & Resnick, Danielle & Thurlow, James, 2006. "The role of agriculture in development: implications for Sub-Saharan Africa," DSGD discussion papers 29, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    19. Loughrey, Jason & Hennessy, Thia, 2018. "The Common Agricultural Policy and The Farm Households’ Off-farm Labour Supply," 166th Seminar, August 30-31, 2018, Galway, West of Ireland 276230, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Vasile Alecsandru Strat & Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu & Raluca Mariana Grosu & Ion-Daniel Zgura, 2016. "Regional Development Fueled by Entrepreneurial Ventures Providing KIBS – Case Study on Romania," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 18(41), pages 1-55, February.

    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:lauspo:v:96:y:2020:i:c:s0264837719308154. 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: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    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.