The dualization of the business strategy for European farms

Abstract

The current socioeconomic context is accelerating the intensification, industrialization and concentration of food companies. At the same time, there is a growing number of alternative initiatives for food production aimed to achieve product differentiation by origin, quality, farming process, etc. Several factors explain this dualization: doubts about the sustainability of the intensive use of agrochemicals and the threat to human health that it entails, climate change and the energy dependency of this production model, the changes in society’s food consumption priorities, and the evolution of the European political framework and the stress in the global food market balance. Local agricultural production, with quality products linked to the landscape, culture and rural environment, is a business strategy which allows many small farmers to maintain their activity and which promotes rural entrepreneurship projects begun by new farmers. This article describes the main causes and features of this agrarian development as a basis for a better comprehension of the challenge of designing more appropriate policies.

Keywords: agricultural economics, rural development, agricultural policy, alternative agriculture, local produce, climate change.