Diversified Farms Facing the Covid-19 Pandemic: First Signals from Italian Case Studies
Open Access
- 16 July 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Sustainability
- Vol. 12 (14), 5709
- https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145709
Abstract
The paper focuses on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on some Italian farms. In particular, the aim is to investigate the consequences of the health emergency on diversified farms, their reactions, and their agricultural and rural policy needs in order to overcome the crisis. The research path investigates five farms of central Italy through semi-structured interviews. The identified case studies are characterized by the heterogeneity of features and farms’ activities. These activities include agritourism, on-farm processing of plant and animal products (mainly olive oils, fruits, and cheese), bio-energy production, tastings and leisure activities, educational farms, and contracting of farm equipment. A qualitative–quantitative analysis based on textual analysis techniques, particularly content and sentiment analysis, was performed. The results highlight the importance of farm diversification and networks in farms’ strategies in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. Furthermore, the presence of both synergies and trade-offs in different types of diversification is found. These results have interesting policy implications that should be more explicitly taken into account to target the next rural development measures.Funding Information
- Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali (Demetra Project, D.M. no 77662 dated 07/11/2019)
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- Diversification and the Entrepreneurial Motivations of Farmers in Norway*Journal of Small Business Management, 2011
- Lexicon-Based Methods for Sentiment AnalysisComputational Linguistics, 2011
- Strategies of family farms to strengthen their resilienceEnvironmental Policy and Governance, 2010
- Why is diversification an attractive farm adjustment strategy? Insights from Texas farmers and ranchersJournal of Rural Studies, 2009
- The Farm Diversification DiscountAmerican Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2005
- Farm household survival strategies and diversification on marginal farmsJournal of Rural Studies, 2005
- The crystal structures of severe acute respiratory syndrome virus main protease and its complex with an inhibitorProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2003
- The development of alternative farm enterprises: A study of family labour farms in the northern Pennines of EnglandJournal of Rural Studies, 1996
- Farm diversification as an adjustment strategy on the urban fringe of the West MidlandsJournal of Rural Studies, 1991
- From part-time farming to pluriactivity: a decade of change in Rural EuropeJournal of Rural Studies, 1990