Entrepreneurship In Farming

A lot is being said these days about farmers becoming ‘entrepreneurs’. But what is entrepreneurship? What does it take to be entrepreneurial? How can an entrepreneurial behaviour be created and sustained? How can entrepreneurial skills be developed? How do entrepreneurial farmers respond to the changing farming environment? What strategies do they use? What actions do they take? And how can extension workers help farmers develop entrepreneurial capacity?

The present book is a product of many brains, most of whom have practically been facilitators of agri entrepreneurship in one way or the other. The book will be helpful to aspiring and budding entrepreneurs who want to make it big in agri-preneurship. The book mainly focuses on how the challenges of startup agribusinesses can be overcome in a cost and time effective manner. The book will prove to be a facilitating campanion for everyone in startup agri-preneurship fraternity.

The agriculture sector around the world has experienced profound changes in recent years. This unique and path-breaking Handbook draws together the best current research in the area of entrepreneurship in agriculture, food production and rural development. Agriculture policy reforms have impacted farm incomes, while demand side changes have required the development of sophisticated market driven strategies. Farmers have demonstrated uneven abilities to adapt and adjust to these ongoing changes. The ability and propensity of farmers to engage in entrepreneurial behaviors is a key explanation of the different patterns of responses within the sector. This book examines these issues through three main themes. The first theme focuses on the firm and the individual entrepreneurs, exploring entrepreneurship within the farm sector. The second takes a sector and industry perspective, exploring new developments in food production and distribution systems. The third theme explores the inter-relationship between agricultural entrepreneurship and its spatial context. Contributions are drawn from international research settings (Scandinavia, Europe, Asia, North America, Australasia) and offer an interdisciplinary approach to the subject. This astute Handbook, which will challenge and enrich the current literature, will appeal to academics in entrepreneurship, small business studies, agriculture, rural studies, rural sociology and agricultural economics, as well as food industry economists, policymakers and all those interested in supporting agricultural and rural businesses.

Many agricultural entrepreneurs are confronted by the continuing spread of urbanisation on the one hand and the growing needs of consumers for sustainably produced, high-quality food on the other. How best can the agricultural entrepreneur respond to this - and turn these threats into an opportunity? The book 'Sustainable Agricultural Entrepreneurship' sets out the experiences of successful agricultural entrepreneurs who have turned the process of urbanisation and the changing needs of the consumer primarily into an opportunity.

The literature on entrepreneurship research has generally ignored the agricultural sector. Few entrepreneurship scholars who are mostly agricultural economists and rural sociologists have contributed in parallel with an isolated body of work without much integration and a larger research agenda. Most of the work in agriculture entrepreneurship focuses on the traditional operations of the sector but lacks the theoretical framework required for a broader conceptual understanding of entrepreneurship in the agriculture sector. There is not much alliance between these two parallel research streams. Theoretical and methodological differences have constrained the interdisciplinary collaboration. Driving Factors for Venture Creation and Success in Agricultural Entrepreneurship assesses the main themes of agripreneurship, discusses important contextual aspects of the agriculture sector to enhance the understanding of entrepreneurship, and highlights how the key contextual dimensions of the agricultural sector can elucidate some of the less understood aspects of entrepreneurship theory and practice. Covering topics such as agribusiness and farm entrepreneurship, it is ideal for entrepreneurs, agriculturalists, professionals, researchers, students, academicians, and policymakers working in the field of entrepreneurship in various disciplines: management, education, agriculture education, sociology, economics, psychology, and technology.

The agriculture sector around the world has experienced profound changes in recent years. This unique and path-breaking Handbook draws together the best current research in the area of entrepreneurship in agriculture, food production and rural development. Agriculture policy reforms have impacted farm incomes, while demand side changes have required the development of sophisticated market driven strategies. Farmers have demonstrated uneven abilities to adapt and adjust to these ongoing changes. The ability and propensity of farmers to engage in entrepreneurial behaviors is a key explanation of the different patterns of responses within the sector. This book examines these issues through three main themes. The first theme focuses on the firm and the individual entrepreneurs, exploring entrepreneurship within the farm sector. The second takes a sector and industry perspective, exploring new developments in food production and distribution systems. The third theme explores the inter-relationship between agricultural entrepreneurship and its spatial context. Contributions are drawn from international research settings (Scandinavia, Europe, Asia, North America, Australasia) and offer an interdisciplinary approach to the subject. This astute Handbook, which will challenge and enrich the current literature, will appeal to academics in entrepreneurship, small business studies, agriculture, rural studies, rural sociology and agricultural economics, as well as food industry economists, policymakers and all those interested in supporting agricultural and rural businesses.

On 1 May 1 2004, after a 14-year transitional period from central planning to market economics, eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) became members of the European Union (EU). Bulgaria and Romania are preparing for accession and are expected to join in 2007. Croatia submitted its application for membership in 2002 and Macedonia in 2004. Part One of this paper presents an overall analysis of the situation and development of producer groups and farmer cooperatives across the CEE countries, including the new EU members, the applicant countries and Balkan states alike. Part Two provides a case study of FAO's experiences and lessons learned with technical assistance programmes and projects in the subregion. The example presents a number of practical suggestions as to how development organisations, governments, donors and advisers might be best able to facilitate the formulation and implementation of policies and strategies that promote the further development of more autonomous and financially sustainable producers' organisations and cooperatives in CEE countries.

In light of the recent dynamics of the recession sparked by the global economic crisis, a roadmap for the growth and recovery of national economies is urgently needed. As such, this book focuses on the potential offered not only by the manufacturing sector but also by the agricultural and tertiary sectors. In fact, during the crisis these sectors demonstrated remarkable resilience in the Italian economy and there have even been positive trends in specific segments. This book points out how an exit strategy could be applied that involves all economic sectors and which can be replicated in various national economies.