Farm diversification strategies in northwestern Spain: Factors affecting transitional pathways

The present paper identifies strategies that farmers have undertaken in northwestern Spain, an area characterized by late structural adjustment. For this study, a survey of over 559 farms has been conducted in four areas representative of different specializations and rural situations, from marginal to productive intensification. Farms have been categorized according to social and productive characteristics through a multivariable analysis. Four basic behaviors have been identified and connected with farm types and rural areas using a multiple correspondence analysis. These basic strategies were defined depending on whether investments have been made on farms to increase or intensify production and whether new on- or off-farm diversification activities have been introduced. This analysis allows us to assess transitional pathways for the future and to assume some consequences of farm behavior in connection with structural adjustments. Thus far, empirical evidence shows that the nature and main drivers of the diversification process are different from those in northern European areas. At the same time, a significant level of farm abandonment is registered.