This research examines the Australian farm tourism sector within both family business and rural studies research paradigms. It analyses which farmers in Australia establish farm tourism businesses, and why. It extends previous research on farm tourism both in breadth, by covering an entire continent; and in depth, using qualitative approaches to determine the internal and external triggers for individual decisions, as well as quantitative approaches to establish the operational structure of the sector and the overall motivations of its operators. There were three separate stages to this study, with an increasingly detailed focus. In the first, a national database of farm tourism operators was constructed from publicly available sources. In the second phase, a 92 item questionnaire was mailed to every operator, with a response rate just below 50%. In the third phase, detailed interviews were conducted with 43 farm tourism operators either on site or by telephone. There are over 650 working farms which offer farm based tourism products in Australia. A few are large, remote and luxurious, but the majority are small, family priced and close to major population centres. There are around 14,000 beds, with mean occupancy rate 35%, and total annual turnover AUS$115 million. Only 0.2% of Australian farmers have taken up tourism, as compared with 10-20% in some European countries. There are four major groups of farm tourism operators in Australia: full time farms, part time farms, retirement farms and lifestyle farms. There are statistically significant differences between these groups in the make up of their income streams, and in their motivations and family structures. Australian farm tourism operators attach slightly more significance to social than financial gains. Particular groups of operators, however, do indeed rely on farm tourism as a key income stream. For lifestyle operators, the farm component is principally a lifestyle luxury and a tourism attraction, with tourism generating the principal income. For retirement farmers, farming is no longer at a commercially viable scale, and tourism provides the cashflow to keep the operators on their farm property during semi retirement. For part time operators, tourism provides an income stream in addition and, where possible, in preference to off farm employment, for farm families having difficulty making ends meet. For full time farmers, tourism is not seen as a long term important income source, but as a diversification option which enabled them to survive external economic shocks caused by changes in commodity prices or government policies. Whereas an income from farm tourism seems to have been an important stopgap or supplement which allows the operators to maintain their farms and farming lifestyles, it does not necessarily generate sufficient income to support two generations on the same property. At least to date, therefore, it appears that farm tourism cannot be relied upon routinely as a new lifeline for rural communities in Australia. It does indeed have a role to play, but the role may be different in different parts of the country. In the more remote areas, farm tourism can provide a buffer for an older generation of farming families, helping to maintain stability in rural communities and land tenure. In areas popular with amenity migrants, however, farm tourism may act as an agent of change, part of a package which brings former urban professionals to a rural semi retirement.

Contract farming is an agreement between a farmer and a firm regarding the agricultural production. Studies have shown that contract farming can influence farmers in different ways. Positive aspects of contract farming is said to be that farmers get access to a bigger market, a secure source of income and valuable assistance from the companies that they have entered into a contract with. Negative aspects are foremost said to be that farmers may loose control over the production and feel that they do not have their independence left. Researchers also argue that contract farming can affect the structure within agriculture, which in many countries is dominated by family farm systems. Some therefore believe that contract farming could play a part in family farm systems changing or disappearing. This study applied a Marxist perspective and aimed to examine farmers and their experience of contract farming and how it might affect the structure within agriculture. An agricultural area in the southern parts of Sweden called Söderslätt was studied. The result showed that contract farming affected the farmers in various ways and that it in some terms can be a cause for changes within the structure of agriculture. Keywords: Söderslätt, contract farming, structural changes, family farm systems.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Gregg L. Hadley / XYZ Farms, a family farming operation located in Northeast Iowa, has been in business since 1924. Currently the operation utilizes 1,300 acres of farm ground to produce corn, soybeans and alfalfa and feeds 3,000 head of hogs and 500 head of cattle annually. The family operation has evolved over the years and has passed ownership down within the family from generation to generation. It has come time that the operation’s current owners are looking to retire and peacefully transition the family operation on to the next generation. A non-conventional case study structure will highlight and assess the history of the family operation and introduce them to current practices and ownership. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and create a feasible transition plan for XYZ Farms, while minimizing the social and economic costs associated with farm business succession. Further analysis will allow the operation to identify and utilize a succession planning framework, which is important for farm families to possess when looking to build and begin the planning process. Quantitative, along with qualitative, analysis are utilized to understand the operations need for succession planning and the feasibility of doing so. Findings indicate that it is advantageous to work through a sound succession plan including an open line of communication with both current and future owners of the operation. The ability to have upfront conversations and meetings will allow for the discussion of the operation’s future between both parties involved. By implementing a sound and feasible succession plan, XYZ Farms will be able to continue to be a family owned and operated farm for many years to come.

Master of Science / Department of Communications and Agricultural Education / Lauri M. Baker / The purpose of this study was to identify the needs of Kansas' agricultural producers in relation to financial and legal matters at a local level. The following research questions guided this study: 1) what services, identified by local producers, are needed in communities across Kansas to assist producers in times of financial and legal distress; 2) what are the perceptions among producers of the Kansas Agricultural Mediation Services (KAMS); 3) what brand attributes, names, and taglines would appeal to producers for an organization addressing their financial and legal distress; 4) how can organizations effectively market financial and legal services to producers? A qualitative study design was used in order to assess the research questions. Six focus groups were performed throughout the state in three different geographic locations. Participants were selected using purposive sampling in order to have one group of people familiar with the organization (KAMS) currently helping producers with their legal and financial issues and one unfamiliar group in each location. Grunig’s excellence in public relations model served as the conceptual framework for this study. Results of this study concluded that rural Kansas’ communities see a need for service organizations similar to KAMS. Participants value assistance with family farm transition planning as well as financial assistance. Participants saw marketing and promotion of the current services offered just as critical as having the services themselves. Participants felt these services should be marketed through two-way communication channels, such as social media, an organizational representative for face-to-face interaction, and collaboration with extension. Additionally, participants voiced strong opinions about various brand attributes.

O objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi avaliar o impacto da restrição ao crédito rural sobre a produtividade da terra e a produtividade do trabalho para os agricultores familiares do Brasil. Para estimar esse impacto, foram utilizados os dados do Censo Agropecuário de 2006 por município. Para diferenciar os diferentes agricultores familiares, foi utilizado o índice de mercantilização, separando a população em quartis. As estimativas do impacto da restrição ao crédito sobre a produtividade da terra e a produtividade do trabalho foram calculadas a partir da comparação entre o grupo que recebeu crédito e o que não recebeu crédito, obtido através do escore de propensão (propensity score matching). As estimativas do efeito médio de tratamento sobre os tratados, quando apresentaram resultados estatisticamente significativos, evidenciaram os diferentes grupos formados dentro da agricultura familiar. Por exemplo, na região Centro-oeste municípios com crédito tiveram maior produtividade da terra e do trabalho quando pertencentes ao quarto quartil. Os resultados obtidos no modelo estimado mostram que os efeitos da restrição ao crédito rural são diferentes para municípios mais ou menos mercantilizados e, portanto, requerem políticas distintas. / The overall objective of this research is to evaluate the impact of the restriction of rural credit on land and labor productivity for family farmers in Brazil. In order to estimate this impact, we have used data from Brazil\'s 2006 Agricultural Census at the municipal level. To differentiate among family farmers, a trade index was used, separating the population into quartiles. Estimates of the impact of credit restriction on the productivity of land and the productivity of labor were calculated through propensity score matching. Estimates of the average treatment effect on the treated, when presenting statistically significant results, highlight the differences among groups formed within the family farm. For example, in the Midwest of Brazil, municipalities with credit and belonging to the fourth quartile presented higher land and labor productivity. The results of the estimated model confirm that the effects of rural credit restriction are different for municipalities with smaller or larger trade indices, requiring therefore specific policies for each group.

Esta pesquisa busca analisar as contradições existentes no incentivo do poder público federal brasileiro à produção de alimentos e à produção de biodiesel no espaço do sertão baiano. Para tanto, foram analisados os efeitos do Programa Nacional de Uso e Produção do Biodiesel (PNPB) e do Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos (PAA) para a formação territorial do município de Morro do Chapéu (BA), especialmente, durante o período entre 2007 e 2012. O trabalho utilizou o apoio metodológico da história oral, por meio da sistematização de entrevistas realizadas com agricultores familiares que participaram das atividades dos programas. O aumento do emprego e da renda familiar dos pequenos produtores rurais e a conseqüente intensificação da base técnica em localidades do município são alguns dos resultados da ação pública federal e da organização produtiva e social local. No entanto, uma série de evidências mostra os desafios do desenvolvimento de programas públicos e da agricultura familiar no Brasil. / This research intends to analyze the existing contractions in the incentive of brazilian federal public power to the food production and to the production of biodiesel to the space of Bahias State dry lands. For that, the effects of the National Program of Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB) and the brazilian Program of Food Acquisition (PAA) to the territorial formation of the Morro do Chapéu (BA) city were analyzed, specially, during the period between 2007 and 2012. The work is based on the oral history methodology made through a series of interviews with family farmers that participated of the activities of both programs. The rising of employment and familiar incomes of family farmers and the intensification of technical basis in localities of the municipality are some results of the federal public action and the local productive and social organization. However, a series of evidences present the challenges to the public programs development and to development of family farm in Brazil.

Os cálculos de custo de produção apontam para a viabilidade econômica da soja apenas em médias e grandes propriedades, entretanto os agricultores familiares persistem nesta atividade produtiva há gerações. Diante disso, o objetivo geral deste trabalho é compreender as racionalidades, motivações e estratégias dos agricultores familiares que culminam em sua manutenção na produção de soja em uma região representativa de ambos. Para tanto, foram utilizados dados secundários dos Censos Demográficos e do Censo Agropecuário e pesquisa de campo no município de Capanema na mesorregião do Sudoeste Paranaense. Observou-se a existência de dois conjuntos de motivações e/ou estratégias na sojicultura familiar do Sudoeste. O primeiro conjunto refere-se às motivações exógenas que impulsionam a soja entre os agricultores familiares que são as políticas públicas, tanto creditícias quanto de seguro consideradas fundamentais para o custeio da produção; o mercado que oferece os insumos, define os preços e adquire a produção; as tecnologias direcionadas como as sementes transgênicas e o maquinário agrícola, responsáveis pelo aumento da produtividade e diminuição da penosidade do trabalho em um ambiente de pouca mão de obra e de população, cada vez mais envelhecida. O segundo conjunto é formado pelos fatores endógenos verificados no trabalho de campo. Ele refere-se à cultura da população rural do Sudoeste, à detenção de um saber fazer sobre a sojicultura, à tradição, às possibilidades que a terra e o clima local oferecem e à renda adquirida pelas famílias. As diferentes combinações destes fatores explicam as razões e o modo como os sojicultores familiares constroem suas racionalidades para se viabilizarem na produção e permanecerem como agricultores, mesmo em meio às dificuldades da atividade. / Estimation of production costs estimation suggests that soya crop would be economically viable only in medium and large lands; however, family farmers have kept this activity for many generations. Taking it into account, the main goal of this thesis is to understand the rationality, strategies and motivations which support the soya farmers’ activities in a representative region of both. In order to answer these questions, secondary dataset from diverse sources were employed such as demographics and agricultural Surveys as well as field research in Capanema Municipality, in the Mesoregion of Southwest Parana. According to the field survey, we observe that there are two samples of motivations and strategies. The first sample refers to exogenous motivations, which support soya activities; public policies such as credits and insurance-both being essential for the production costs- and also, the market that offers the inputs, sets the prices and get the production, technologies which have developed transgenic seeds and farm machines - both being essential for the increase in the productivity and reduction of hardship in an environment with low workforce and elderly population. The second sample is the result of endogenous factors such as culture, knowledge transmitted by previous generations, possibilities to explore land considering local climate and their income. The different combinations of these factors explain why and how soya farmers develop diverse rationality to have economically viable production and consequently, remain as farmers, despite all the existing difficulties.

Esta pesquisa busca analisar as contradições existentes no incentivo do poder público federal brasileiro à produção de alimentos e à produção de biodiesel no espaço do sertão baiano. Para tanto, foram analisados os efeitos do Programa Nacional de Uso e Produção do Biodiesel (PNPB) e do Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos (PAA) para a formação territorial do município de Morro do Chapéu (BA), especialmente, durante o período entre 2007 e 2012. O trabalho utilizou o apoio metodológico da história oral, por meio da sistematização de entrevistas realizadas com agricultores familiares que participaram das atividades dos programas. O aumento do emprego e da renda familiar dos pequenos produtores rurais e a conseqüente intensificação da base técnica em localidades do município são alguns dos resultados da ação pública federal e da organização produtiva e social local. No entanto, uma série de evidências mostra os desafios do desenvolvimento de programas públicos e da agricultura familiar no Brasil. / This research intends to analyze the existing contractions in the incentive of brazilian federal public power to the food production and to the production of biodiesel to the space of Bahias State dry lands. For that, the effects of the National Program of Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB) and the brazilian Program of Food Acquisition (PAA) to the territorial formation of the Morro do Chapéu (BA) city were analyzed, specially, during the period between 2007 and 2012. The work is based on the oral history methodology made through a series of interviews with family farmers that participated of the activities of both programs. The rising of employment and familiar incomes of family farmers and the intensification of technical basis in localities of the municipality are some results of the federal public action and the local productive and social organization. However, a series of evidences present the challenges to the public programs development and to development of family farm in Brazil.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:31:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Parte 1.pdf: 690727 bytes, checksum: 04d8300beebfa3fcca484f8b3296af09 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-10 / From a study about APOP Organic Producers Association of Pérola do Oeste, Paraná state, we identify difficulties that family agriculture based on organic technology faces to expand it self in the Territory Southwest of Paraná. We rescue information for understanding the territorial dynamics emphasizing, since 1950, when APOP´s family members came to county and bought their farms. The study examines the views of family farming organizations (Cresol System, System Coopafi, Sisclaf, Cooperiguaçu, Assesoar), private initiatives (Gebana, Gralha Azul) and government (Emater). We identified local experiences of organic agriculture for municipalities to demonstrate the territorialization that occurs in the Southwest of Paraná. The potential expansion of organic agriculture is defended by all respondents, in spite of differences of how to do it. The concordances are about activities that have greater potential to expand, were mentioned in horticulture and organic milk. The arguments for these activities emphasize that the organic model does not generate more work than the conventional model. The directors of the studied organizations suggest that family farms invest in food production for the population of the Territory. / A partir de um estudo de caso da APOP Associação de Produtores Orgânicos de Pérola do Oeste/PR, identificamos dificuldades que a agricultura familiar com base tecnológica orgânica enfrenta para expandir-se no Território Sudoeste do Paraná. Resgatamos informações para entendimento da dinâmica territorial enfatizando, a partir de 1950, quando as familias dos associados à APOP chegaram ao município e adquiriram suas propriedades agrícolas. O estudo contempla a opinião das organizações da agricultura familiar (Sistema Cresol, Sistema Coopafi, Sisclaf, Cooperiguaçu, Assesoar), iniciativa privada (Gebana, Gralha Azul) e governo (Emater). Identificamos experiências locais da agricultura orgânica por municípios para demonstrar a territorialização que ocorre no Sudoeste do Paraná. O potencial de expansão da agricultura orgânica é defendido por todos os entrevistados, ainda que, com divergências de como fazê-lo. As concordâncias estão em torno das atividades que tem maior potencial de se expandir, sendo citadas a horticultura e o leite orgânico. As argumentações defendem que para estas atividades o modelo orgânico não gera mais trabalho que o modelo convencional. As organizações entrevistadas propõem à agricultura familiar investir na produção de alimentos para a população do Território.

Ūkininkų ir šeimos ūkių svarba mėsinių galvijų auginimo srityje didėja. Mėsinių ir mišrūnų veislių galvijų skaičius per penkerius metus (2007-2011 m.) padidėjo (Žemės ūkio informacijos ir kaimo verslo centro duomenys). Lietuvos šeimos ūkiai turi ilgalaikę patirtį galvijų auginimo srityje, tačiau mėsinių galvijų auginimas yra besivystanti sritis, kurios plėtrai reikia paskatų ir optimizavimo. Šio darbo tikslas yra remiantis atlikta Lietuvos žemės ūkio sektoriaus analize ir jautienos rinkos analize, išanalizuoti mėsinės galvijininkystės šeimos ūkyje veiklą ir nustatyti mėsinių galvijų auginimo šeimos ūkyje optimizavimo būdus. Darbo tikslui pasiekti keliami tokie uždaviniai: 1. Atlikti Lietuvos žemės ūkio sektoriaus analizę; 2. Atlikti pasaulio, Europos Sąjungos ir Lietuvos jautienos rinkos analizę; 3. Išanalizuoti jautienos kokybės vertinimo sistemas; 4. Išanalizuoti mėsinių galvijų auginimo šeimos ūkyje galimybes; 5. Nustatyti mėsinių galvijų auginimo šeimos ūkyje optimizavimo būdus. Darbe naudojami tyrimo metodai: 1. Pirminių duomenų šaltinių analizė; 2. Antrinių duomenų ir mokslinės literatūros studijavimas ir analizė; 3. Finansinės analizės metodas. Praktinė baigiamojo darbo reikšmė. Šis darbas supažindina su dabartine Lietuvos žemės ūkio būkle bei išskiria mėsos sektorių, konkrečiai mėsinę galvijininkystę. Atlikta išsami Lietuvos žemės ūkio analizė, orientuota į šeimos ūkius aptaria problemas, investicijas, ūkininkų gaunamas ES paramas šiai vėslo šakai plėtoti. Ši... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The livestock sector is a significant supplier of food to Lithuanian consumers and an important source of export in Lithuania. Lithuanian family farms have a long experience in the production of cattle, but beef cattle is a developing area which requires development incentives and optimization The main objective of this thesis is after the analysis of Lithuanian agriculture sector and beef market, to analyze beef production family farm performance and to determine beef production in family farm optimization opportunities. The main tasks of this thesis are: 1. To analyze the Lithuanian agriculture sector; 2. To analyze world, EU and Lithuanian beef meat market; 3. To analyze the measurement systems of beef meat quality; 4. To analyse the production opportunities of beef in family farm; 5. To determine the ways to optimize the beef production in family farm. Used methods: 1. The primary data analysis; 2. The secondary data analysis; 3. The financial analysis. This work consists of three chapters. The first part defines the agricultural sector of Lithuania, as well as family farm’s situation in Lithuania. The second part analyzes the main trends in the beef meat market. The third part analyses the opportunities for beef cattle production in Lithuanian family farms. In the last part you will find beef cattle growing in family part analysis and ways to optimize the farm’s performance.