Worth the Risk? The Behavioural Path to Well‐Being

There is increasing interest in the ‘economics of happiness’, reflected in the volume of articles appearing in mainstream economics journals exploring the major determinants of self‐reported well‐being. We contribute by exploring the factors influencing how satisfied farmers are with their quality of life. We find that farm income, subjective perceptions relating to the adequacy of household income, debt, health and personal characteristics such as age and relationship status are significantly associated with farmers’ self‐reported life satisfaction. While significantly associated with farm income, farm structural variables such as farm size, farm type and the presence of a farm successor were not found to be significantly related with life satisfaction. Our results also suggest that farmers who are more risk averse enjoy significantly lower levels of both life satisfaction and farm income than their more risk seeking or risk neutral counterparts. We suggest that, in the same way that risk aversion inhibits farmers from making choices that could lead to an increase in their income, it may also constrain farmers (and the wider public at large) from engaging in certain types of behaviours that could lead to an increase in their self‐reported quality of life. Finally, we find that while farm income is significantly related to self‐reported life satisfaction, the direct correlation between these variables is weak, suggesting that farmer life satisfaction can be distinct from business success.     

Analysing behavioural differences of farm households: An example of income diversification strategies based on European farm survey data

Different forms of income diversification represent important strategies of farmers to either cope with the changing economic framework conditions or to valorise given territorial potentialities. Nevertheless, the decision to diversify economic activities on or off the farm will heavily depend on the agricultural business and household characteristics. Our study used a survey of 2154 farms from eleven European regions to identify distinct farm types in order to investigate differences regarding the willingness to diversify in the future. Two scenario situations with continuation (baseline) and without any market intervention (“No CAP”) were tested. A factor and cluster analysis depicted six farm types both previously described and novel. The typology proved validity across all case studies, whereas single types occurred more frequently under specific site conditions. The six farm types showed strong variations in the stated future diversification behaviour. Young farm households with organic production are most likely to diversify activities particularly on-farm, whereas farm types characterised by intensive livestock holding and also already diversified and part-time farm households are least likely to apply this strategy. Results have further shown that under hypothetical conditions of termination of economic support by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) an increasing share of farmers – throughout all types – would apply income diversification, mainly off-farm diversification, as a survival strategy.     

Are we risking too much? Perspectives on risk in farm modeling

Risk and uncertainty have been extensively studied by agricultural economists. In this paper we question (a) the predominant use of static frameworks to formally analyse risk; (b) the predominant focus on risk aversion as the motivation for considering risk and (c) the notion that explicitly probabilistic models are likely to be helpful to farmers in their decision making. We pose the question: for a risk‐averse farmer, what is the extra value of a recommendation derived from a model that represents risk aversion, compared to a model based on risk neutrality? The conclusion reached is that for the types of the decision problems most commonly modelled by agricultural economists, the extra value of representing risk aversion is commonly very little.     

贸易自由化对中国食物消费不平等的影响与路径研究——基于多元多重中介效应模型的检验

随着经济发展,人们生活水平不断提高,中国人均食物消费量不断提高,但食物消费不平等问题依然比较突出.本文基于贸易自由化的角度,引入价格和收入两个中介变量,利用中国家庭收入项目调查数据及其他相关数据,通过多元多重中介效应模型,从理论和实证上分析了贸易自由化对中国食物消费不平等的影响.研究发现,贸易自由化不仅可通过提高中国居...     

Determinants of farm diversification in the Netherlands

Farm diversification has been prominently supported by agricultural policy makers aiming to support rural development. To increase the understanding of determinants influencing diversification and hence to increase the efficiency of policies aiming to support farm diversification this paper presents the results of an analysis of diversification determinants. The research investigates Dutch farms diversification strategies using Farm Structural Survey (FSS) data of 2011 including 70,392 farms. The study uses a binary logit model to determine the characteristics influencing the diversification decision in general. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis for six diversification strategies was conducted. Additionally the study categorised the specific diversification activities in order to estimate a multinomial probit model, analysing three choice categories simultaneously. This enables us to compare determinants of farm diversification in general with determinants of specific activities. The analysis includes socio- demographic, economic and geophysical farm characteristics assumed to influence the diversification decision. Even though diversification is largely influenced by similar determinants, we find differences that are most pronounced for the adoption of nature conservation strategies. Consequently, it is important for policy makers to target policies at specific diversification activities in order to increase efficiency.     

‘Good’ farm management employment: Emerging values in the contemporary Irish dairy sector

The number of Irish dairy farms with herds greater than 100 cows has increased from 4.5 % in 2005 to 23 % in 2016. The abolition of the dairy quota in 2015 has led to predictions that this trend will continue and that an additional 6000 people will be required to work on dairy farms by 2025. Ownership of farms is esteemed, with farm employment perceived as a poor second option, so it is necessary to identify possible routes towards creating 'good' farm employment relationships. This paper explores the social, cultural and economic values of employers and employees in the context of early experiences of farm employment in post-quota Ireland. Using narrative analysis, this study found that employees gained esteem and pride from acquiring managerial responsibilities and receiving recognition for their abilities and accomplishments from their employers. Greater social recognition of employ’ abilities by peer groups and in networks (social capital) cemented ‘good employee’ status. Employers, in a context of unprecedented dairy production expansion, emphasised the need for and demonstrated changing of power structures to open up the farm to new forms of influence. However, employers’ reflexivity in support of employment relationships was undermined overall by what the management literature calls a weak ‘rewards system’ for employees. Without the supportive scaffolding of a formalised rewards system, relational gestures of responsibility-devolution and employ’ appreciation of employees may be insufficient to sustain quality farm management employment in the long term. Inevitably, this diminishes the attractiveness of farm employment, limiting the drawing of talent not only into farm employment but into associated capacity-building programmes.     

经济增长与收入再分配对湖北省农村贫困变动的影响

本文通过对湖北省否受益并相关结论贫困变动由人均收入水平和收入分配不平等程度两个因素共同决定。贫困变动的增长再分配分解，考察1997—2003年间如上两个因素村贫困变动的影响方向和程度，进而分析在经济增长过程中穷人是算和比较基尼系数，考察在此期间农村居民的收入分配状况，得出对农测。     

Managerial efficiency under risk for broiler producers in Saudi Arabia

Managerial efficiency for broiler producers m Saudi Arabia is generally difficult lo achieve. High investment costs coupled with relatively high average production costs and the consequent incompetent market prices, have resulted in projects either working at less than full capacity or being shut down completely. The aim here is to determine the most efficient production alternatives (actions) available to managers under business risk considerations. The ordinary stochastic dominance approach was used to solicit the most efficient production alternatives for broilet producing projects of all sizes in the Central Region of Saudi Arabia. For small-and medium-sized projects, the efficient production alternatives concentrated on marketing risk. For large projects, the efficient actions concentrated on both marketing and production risks. For the three sizes of projects, the two production alternatives that proved to be the most efficient, were the one that contains creating morc marketing strategies and the one that adopts good veterinary care systems. On the other hand, the production alternative that deals with selecting good breeds of chicks appeared to be most efficient for small and large projects only.     

Farmers’ perceptions and management of risk in rice/shrimp farming systems in South-West Coastal Bangladesh

Farmers in Bangladesh face considerable risk due to fluctuations in biophysical and economic conditions, but the response to these risks is poorly understood. In particular, there is a need to better understand the endogenous management of risk in the rice/shrimp farming systems that have emerged in the inner coastal zone of Bangladesh. This paper draws on a case study of a typical rice/shrimp farming village in Khulna District to explore: (a) farmers’ perceptions of risks and their management responses, (b) risk-return trade-offs within small-, medium-, and large-farm households, and (c) the role of other farm and non-farm activities in mitigating risks to household livelihoods. Farm-level data were collected through a reconnaissance survey, a village census, household case studies, and a sample survey of 73 households. Representative farm budgets were constructed for the three farm-size classes. The key performance indicators calculated were gross margin (GM), net income (NI), and GM per workday of family labour. The riskiness of the rice/shrimp system was assessed for each farm type using farmers’ estimates of low, normal, and high yields and prices to specify triangular distributions. Cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) for GM, NI, and GM per workday were generated. A whole-farm economic analysis was also conducted to assess the relative contributions of different sources of income for each farm type. With access to saline water for shrimp farming in the dry season and fresh water for rice in the wet season, farmers have developed and progressively adapted an alternating rice/shrimp farming system that has minimised the trade-offs between the two crops and provides a good return to household and village resources for all farm types. The system is subject to significant production and market risks, especially the shrimp component. However, farmers have clearly perceived these risks and ameliorated them through a range of production, marketing, and management strategies. With these risk management practices, the rice/shrimp cropping system is economically viable, given the current variation in yields and prices. The greater risk associated with the shrimp component was offset by the renewed stability of the rice component over the past decade, and the risks of the whole cropping system were offset by other farm and non-farm sources of livelihood. Development interventions need to work with farmers to provide further options (suitable rice varieties, solutions to shrimp disease, improved village and transport infrastructure) if this resilience is to be maintained.     

Is farming enough in mountain areas? Farm diversification in the Pyrenees

The continuity of farming in mountain areas in Europe is at severe risk and its future faces manifold uncertainties. Mountain farms are immersed in a long-term process of reorganization. Farm diversification plays a prominent role in this process of adjustment and reallocation. However, little work has been done explicitly on the role farm diversification plays in the current structural changes occurring. In order to fill this void, the nature of farm diversification has been examined in the Pyrenees, where four different typologies of farms have been identified: absence of diversification, agricultural diversification, farmland diversification and finally farm labour diversification. These typologies reflect a gradation along which the farm diversification practices are applied to more aspects of the farm household. Throughout this gradation farming is increasingly marginalised. Finally, it is argued that the endorsement of policy measures stimulating farm diversification in mountain regions should be cautiously considered, since there is high risk of encouraging further agricultural abandonment.     

User fees, equity and the benefits of public outdoor recreation services

The paper addresses the question of who benefits from public recreation areas. Employing a set of survey data from users and nonusers of state-owned recreation and conservation areas in Finland, we derive two measures for distributional analysis. The first, the income elasticity of willingness to pay for recreation services, indicates that public provision of recreation benefits lower-income groups more than higher-income groups. The second, a welfare measure including efficiency loss, reveals ambiguous impacts depending on the level of the fee implemented. Low fee levels decrease recreation visits among lower-income users, whereas high fees reduce the welfare level of higher-income users in particular.     

Farm size,productivity and returns to scale in agriculture revisited: a case study of wine producers in South Africa

The inverse relationship between farm size and productivity has almost become a ‘stylised fact’ in the economic development literature. Most of the studies contributing to this preception have been Hawed by methodological shortcomings and the request is that these studies be treated with caution. Using recent farm survey data from the wine producing areas of the Western Cape of South Africa, this study attempts to overcome some of the methodological problems, distinguishing between partial and total productivity measures. Using data envelopment analysis, most of the wine grape producers were found to operate under constant returns to scale. Co-operative membership seemed to overcome the economies of scale associated with processing and marketing. The inverse relationship between farm size and both land productivity and total factor productivity is weak, not consistently negative and differs between regions. Thus, caution must be used when advocating rural development policies based on the inevitability of an inverse relationship existing in all sectors and production regions of agriculture.     

Matching new entrants and retiring farmers through farm joint ventures: Insights from the Fresh Start Initiative in Cornwall,UK

Concerns about the sustainability of an ageing farming population have brought interest in so called entry-exit issues in policy circles. Policy interventions to date have offered limited scope in stimulating farm transfer in UK, however, the increase in unconventional tenures which include partnerships, share farming and contract farming (collectively called joint ventures) would appear to offer new opportunities for those wishing to enter or leave farming. In recognition of this the Fresh Start initiative in Cornwall set up a matchmaking element with the aim of identifying and facilitating potential joint ventures agreements between new entrants and older farmers. The emphasis was on setting up long-term arrangements that would enable the new entrant to ‘buy into’ an existing farm business, gradually taking over managerial control. This paper examines the processes of matching partners for the possible formation of farm joint ventures, using qualitative data derived from interviews with the participants, deliverers and stakeholders involved in the matchmaking element of this initiative. The results reveal that there is a deep rooted reluctance amongst participants in the initiative to enter formal long term joint ventures due to differing motivations, expectations, and concerns about their respective responsibilities in the working relationship and about the validity of the legal framework. Only where a relationship had already been informally established was there a commitment to formalise a joint venture agreement. Future emphasis in policy should therefore be on helping to facilitate and formalise existing partnerships, rather than trying to artificially orchestrate matches where the parties do not know each other.     

信贷约束对农户消费结构优化的影响研究——基于中国家庭金融调查数据的实证分析

基于中国家庭金融调查微观数据,本文考察信贷约束强度对农户消费结构优化的影响,并通过工具变量方法缓解信贷约束的内生性。研究结果表明,信贷约束显著降低农户的消费总量,减少其生产性消费和发展性消费,不利于优化农户的消费结构,而减弱农户的信贷约束强度可以显著提升农户的生产性消费和发展性消费。通过考察收入水平和收入结构的调节作用发现,信贷约束对低收入群体具有更强的负向作用。即仅在低收入家庭和农业收入家庭的分样本中,信贷约束会显著降低农户的消费总量、生产性消费和发展性消费。因此,在贸易摩擦和供给侧改革的背景下,为刺激农户提升消费总量和优化消费结构,尤其是增加低收入群体的消费能力,后续政策应着力改善农户的信贷环境。     

对农用地价值功能及其价格构成的新思考

文章首先对农用地价值功能进行了分析，认为农用地不仅具有生产价值功能和资产增殖价值功能．还具有生态环境价值功能、社会保障价值功能、社会稳定价值功能及其他价值功能。接着，对农用地价格构成进行了探析．将农用地价格分解为经济收益价格、生态收益价格与社会收益价格三个部分，以往的农用地估价注重的是经济收益价值．而忽视了生态收益价值与社会收益价值。     

家庭农场：我国农业现代化建设的路径选择——基于家庭农场与传统小农户、雇工农场的比较

本文通过梳理家庭农场等相关概念,认为家庭农场作为一种新型农业经营主体,具有家庭经营、适度规模、集约化生产、商品化经营、农业收入为主等五个基本特征;并通过比较家庭农场、传统小农户和雇工农场三种经营主体,发现家庭农场既把现代农业要素融入到了传统意义上的农户家庭经营中,又避免了雇工农场大规模流转土地带来的解放劳动力过多、企业运行风险累及农民、农作精细化程度不够等问题,是农业从传统农业走向现代农业的路径选择。