IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aiea13/149893.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Determinants of Structural Change in the agricultural sector: An Empirical Analysis of Farm Exit in Tuscany

Author

Listed:
  • Landi, Chiara
  • Stefani, Gianluca
  • Rocchi, Benedetto
  • Lombardi, Ginevra V.
  • Giampaolo, Sabina

Abstract

In the last decade Italy has experienced a consistent decline in the number of agricultural firms. Beyond the new definition of agricultural firms, this structural change of farms is characterized by exit of small farms and increasing farm size. This paper aims at analyzing the determinants of the net exit of Tuscan farms from the market during the period 2000 - 2007 both at the farm and the territorial level. The study combines data from two different sources: the 2000 census of Agriculture and three waves (2003 - 2005 - 2007) of the European “Farm and Structure Surveys” (FSS) realized in Italy by ISTAT (the National Institute of Statistics) . The resulting sample of Tuscan farms amounts approximately to 3000 agricultural firms. The exit probability of Tuscan farms from the market is estimated trough a bayesian hierarchical probit model where the group level coefficients correspond to the Local Labour Systems (LLS) i.e. a set of neighboring municipalities in which people live and work. Several variables related to farm, family, and geographical characteristics of the area are used as independent variables to investigate their net effect on the decision to exit. Results show that, among others, farm size, age of the farm operator, type of the holding have played a key role on exit. On one hand, higher farm size and professional nature of the activity lower the probability of exit. On the other hand, exit probabilities are higher for farms in which the farm operator is older nearer to retirement and without young members in his family that can replace him. Likelihood of exit is higher in areas (LLS) characterized by higher population density as the land use competition and possibly the richer labour market associated to these areas increases the exit behaviour. However given the same population density, exit probability is lower in “urban” LLS perhaps because of the proximity to remunerative market outlets for farm products.

Suggested Citation

  • Landi, Chiara & Stefani, Gianluca & Rocchi, Benedetto & Lombardi, Ginevra V. & Giampaolo, Sabina, 2013. "Determinants of Structural Change in the agricultural sector: An Empirical Analysis of Farm Exit in Tuscany," 2013 Second Congress, June 6-7, 2013, Parma, Italy 149893, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aiea13:149893
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.149893
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/149893/files/151_Landi.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.149893?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kostov, Philip & Patton, Myles & Moss, Joan E. & McErlean, Seamus, 2005. "Does Gibrat's Law Hold Amongst Dairy Farmers in Northern Ireland?," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24775, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Rocchi, Benedetto & Stefani, Gianluca, 2005. "The Evolution of Institutional Structure of Italian Agriculture: A Historical Reconstruction Through the Debate on Agricultural Holdings Classification," 94th Seminar, April 9-10, 2005, Ashford, UK 24426, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Mishra, Ashok K. & Raggi, Meri & Viaggi, Davide, 2010. "Determinants of farm exit: A comparison between Europe and United States," 114th Seminar, April 15-16, 2010, Berlin, Germany 61075, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Laurent Piet & Laure Latruffe & Chantal Le Mouël & Yann Desjeux, 2012. "How do agricultural policies influence farm size inequality? The example of France," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 39(1), pages 5-28, February.
    5. Christoph R. Weiss, 1999. "Farm Growth and Survival: Econometric Evidence for Individual Farms in Upper Austria," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(1), pages 103-116.
    6. Mary Clare Ahearn & Jet Yee & Penni Korb, 2005. "Effects of Differing Farm Policies on Farm Structure and Dynamics," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(5), pages 1182-1189.
    7. Mann, Stefan & Mante, Juliane, 2004. "Of Farmers And Butchers - Comparing The Determinants Of Exit In Shrinking Sectors," Working Papers 30708, Agroscope Reckenholz Tanikon (ART).
    8. Rahelizatovo, Noro C. & Gillespie, Jeffrey M., 1999. "Dairy Farm Size, Entry, and Exit in a Declining Production Region," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(2), pages 333-347, August.
    9. Lydia Zepeda, 1995. "Asymmetry and Nonstationarity in the Farm Size Distribution of Wisconsin Milk Producers: An Aggregate Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 77(4), pages 837-852.
    10. Piet, Laurent, 2008. "The evolution of farm size distribution: revisiting the Markov chain model," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 44269, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Daniel Shapiro & Ray D. Bollman & Philip Ehrensaft, 1987. "Farm Size and Growth in Canada," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 69(2), pages 477-483.
    12. Laurent Piet & Laure Latruffe & Chantal Le Mouël & Yann Desjeux, 2012. "How do agricultural policies influence farm size inequality? The example of France," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 39(1), pages 5-28, February.
    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. Ayal Kimhi & Nitzan Tzur-Ilan, 2021. "Structural Changes in Israeli Family Farms: Long-Run Trends in the Farm Size Distribution and the Role of Part-Time Farming," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-15, June.

    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. Chiara Landi & Gianluca Stefani & Benedetto Rocchi & Ginevra Virginia Lombardi & Sabina Giampaolo, 2016. "Regional Differentiation and Farm Exit: A Hierarchical Model for Tuscany," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(1), pages 208-230, February.
    2. Kimhi, Ayal & Tzur, Nitzan, 2011. "Long-Run Trends in the Farm Size Distribution in Israel: The Role of Part-Time Farming," Discussion Papers 99217, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management.
    3. Zimmermann, Andrea & Heckelei, Thomas, 2012. "Differences of farm structural change across European regions," Discussion Papers 162879, University of Bonn, Institute for Food and Resource Economics.
    4. Zier, Patrick, 2013. "Econometric impact assessment of the Common Agricultural Policy in East German agriculture," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 71, number 71.
    5. Yuval Dolev & Ayal Kimhi, 2010. "Do family farms really converge to a uniform size? The role of unobserved farm efficiency ," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 54(1), pages 119-136, January.
    6. Legrand D. F, Saint-Cyr, 2017. "Farm heterogeneity and agricultural policy impacts on size dynamics: evidence from France," Working Papers SMART 17-04, INRAE UMR SMART.
    7. Alexander Gocht & Norbert Röder & Sebastian Neuenfeldt & Hugo Storm & Thomas Heckelei, 2012. "Modelling farm structural change: A feasibility study for ex-post modelling utilizing FADN and FSS data in Germany and developing an ex-ante forecast module for the CAPRI farm type layer baseline," JRC Research Reports JRC75524, Joint Research Centre.
    8. Ostapchuk, Igor & Gagalyuk, Taras & Curtiss, Jarmila, 2021. "Post-acquisition integration and growth of farms: the case of Ukrainian agroholdings," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 24(4), April.
    9. Kersting, Stefan & Hüttel, Silke & Odening, Martin, 2015. "Structural change in agriculture under capacity constraints: An equilibrium approach," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 140, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    10. Legrand D. F. Saint‐Cyr, 2022. "Heterogeneous farm‐size dynamics and impacts of subsidies from agricultural policy: Evidence from France," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(3), pages 893-923, September.
    11. Fertő, Imre & Bojnec, Štefan & Iwasaki, Ichiro & Shida, Yoshisada, 2024. "Why do corporate farms survive in Central and Eastern Europe?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    12. Piet, Laurent, 2008. "The evolution of farm size distribution: revisiting the Markov chain model," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 44269, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Dolev, Yuval & Kimhi, Ayal, 2008. "Does Farm Size Really Converge? The Role of Unobserved Farm Efficiency," Discussion Papers 45778, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management.
    14. Zoltan Bakucs & Stefan Bojnec & Imre Fertő & Laure Latruffe, 2013. "Farm size and growth in field crop and dairy farms in France, Hungary and Slovenia," Post-Print hal-01208897, HAL.
    15. Ayal Kimhi & Nitzan Tzur-Ilan, 2021. "Structural Changes in Israeli Family Farms: Long-Run Trends in the Farm Size Distribution and the Role of Part-Time Farming," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-15, June.
    16. Fałkowski, Jan, 2017. "Promoting change or preserving the status quo? The consequences of dominating local politics by agricultural interests," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 448-459.
    17. Kersting, Stefan & Hüttel, Silke & Odening, Martin, 2016. "Industry dynamics under production constraints — The case of the EU dairy sector," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 135-151.
    18. He, Xi, 2018. "Bigger Farms and Bigger Food Firms-The Agricultural Origin of Industrial Concentration in the Food Sector," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274206, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Fertő, Imre & Bakucs, Lajos Zoltán, 2008. "Érvényes-e a Gibrat-törvény a magyar mezőgazdaságban? [Is Gibrat s law valid for Hungarian agriculture?]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 25-38.
    20. Marie Dervillé & Gilles Allaire & Élise Maigné & Éric Cahuzac, 2017. "Internal and contextual drivers of dairy restructuring: evidence from French mountainous areas and post†quota prospects," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(1), pages 91-103, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy; Farm Management;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ags:aiea13:149893. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aieaaea.html .

    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.