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The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that societies, when becoming wealthier, are increasingly less concerned with the efficiency of their farms. It is to show that and why small family farms are a good which citizens aim to preserve.

Structural change between 2000 and 2010 in two rather wealthy European Union (EU)-member countries and two very wealthy European (non-EU) countries is compared and explained by socioeconomic variables.

The reason for the difference between Germany and Austria on one side and Norway and Switzerland on the other is strong political support in the latter countries where structural change is slowing down. A framework is outlined for why a preference for small family farms may emerge in a wealthy society.

Structural change in this paper is reconstructed as a function of political preferences, being again a function of state of economic development.

Family farms are seen as a powerful force for rural development, and they are gaining more and more research attention. This study aims to explore the relationship between the social networks of family farms and the dual innovation of the family farm business model from the perspective of entrepreneurial orientation.

Using a questionnaire survey of 169 family farms in Qingdao, China, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected. The study hypothesis was tested using inferential tests (regression analysis).

The study results show that innovative, efficiency- and novelty-based business models facilitated by social networks have a favorable and significant impact on the performance of family farms. Furthermore, the relationship between social networks and new business model creation is positively influenced by an entrepreneurial orientation.

This study is distinctive in that it examines the mechanisms underlying family farm growth from an entrepreneurial standpoint, classifying family farm social networks for the first time into social, market and governmental categories and looking at their impact on the creation of new business models. In addition, it looks into the relationship between the innovation and social network aspect of the family farm business model from an entrepreneurial perspective, offering fresh insight into this connection. It also examines the family farm business model’s connection to innovation and social networks from an entrepreneurial standpoint, providing new insight into this relationship.

The aim of this paper is to investigate technical, scale, allocative and economic efficiencies by data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier methods to provide a decision‐making tool and managerial implications in the measurement of farm business performance and efficiency.

Technical, scale, allocative and economic efficiencies are analyzed with the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) sample for 13 farm business branches in Slovenia in the period 1994‐2003. DEA models are used with an output‐orientation, three outputs and four inputs. The non‐parametric DEA estimations are compared with a parametric stochastic frontier approach. The cluster analysis is used to identify three different farm business groups according to their performance.

The average technical, scale, allocative and economic efficiencies for the whole FADN sample over the analyzed period are relatively high (around or over 0.90), suggesting that, although the FADN sample contains very different farms, the latter have similar management practices, and are similarly able to make the best use of the existing technology. Five farm branches (crop, dairy, livestock using own feed, fruit, and forestry) are fully efficient with respect to all four analyzed efficiency measures, suggesting that these specializations have the best chance to compete on the European and world markets.

Studies of technical, scale, allocative and economic efficiencies are rare for transitional farm businesses, especially in Slovenia. The research contributes to the crucial issue of whether small family farm businesses might be able to compete on international markets, as Slovenian agriculture is characterized by such structures.

Small-scale goat farming and dairy goat productions are significant constituents in the livelihoods of marginal Lebanese rural communities. Reviving and supporting that sector is instrumental in creating value for rural communities to build sustainable livelihoods and safeguard climate-adapted value chains (VCs). The paper aims to describe the dairy goat VC in the Shouf and West Bekaa (WB) areas of Lebanon, which are traditionally popular for caprine production.

A socio-economic approach was employed to determine the perceived challenges, opportunities and context of goat farmers and dairy processor in the Shouf and WB casas as case studies, using the Heifer International's toolkit for goat value chains. Questionnaires were developed for the five actors of the VC: farmer, milk collector, processor, retailer and consumer. The data were analyzed quantitatively, using simple statistical analysis, and qualitatively through observation, gathering, coding and thematically organizing the responses.

In the Shouf, the chain is shorter, consisting of a farmer, processor and consumer, while in the WB the VC includes a milk collector and larger dairy factories. The value is unequally and unfairly distributed among the actors putting the small-scale farmers and processors in subordinate positions. In terms of enabling environment, the role of the state, authorities and organizations remains minimal in supporting the sector. The challenges facing this sector are economic, regulatory, operational, social and hygienic as perceived by the participants.

The economic, political and social instability of the country hinders the performance of the sector.

Limited research is available on the small ruminants' VC in Lebanon, addressing the socio-economic status of goat farmers and opportunities available in the sector. On the other hand, the demand for traditional dairy products is increasing amid rising concerns related to intensive livestock systems and negative association of livestock systems with climate change. Accordingly, basic assessment and research on the existing small ruminant dairy chains is important as a first step for the sustainable development of the sector.

This article aims to investigate the financial constraints and nonlinearity of farm size growth.

Farm size growth is measured with land, labor and output using data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) for Hungary and Slovenia. A dynamic panel model is applied to assess financial constraints and nonlinearity of farm size growth.

Results show that, except for land in Slovenia and output in Hungary, liquidity constraints are less important for farm size growth than endogenous factors based on farm size growth expectations and steady farm size restructuring. Smaller farms are growing faster than larger ones. The hypothesis that a higher level of subsidies would increase farm size is not supported for Hungary. When farms reach a certain size, the land area of the largest farms increases. Farm debts in Hungary are linked with land growth and in Slovenia with output growth.

Further research on the impact of liquidity constraints and subsidies can be conducted at a disaggregate farm-type level to examine whether there is variability in the underlying interlinkages at the farm-type specialization level.

The implication that farm size growth is dependent on initial size and that smaller farms are growing faster than bigger ones indicates that it is not necessary to favor the fastest growing smaller farms thus supports the application of a non-discriminatory farm size policy for observing farm size structural changes.

The dynamic panel econometric model that incorporates cash flow as a measure of financial constraints provides insight into farm size growth in cross-country comparison in relation to potential farm liquidity constraints, farm debt and the nonlinearity of farm size, which information is of relevance to policy makers and practitioners.

By examining a case study in Tyrol, Austria, the paper aims to demonstrate the role of farm diversification and the influence of the peasants’ habitus on social-ecological resilience.

Drawing on a field study conducted in two remote villages of the Ötztal valley, Austrian Alps, this study provides insights into the interplay of tourism and farming and its impact on farm resilience. Qualitative narrative interviews, the so-called farm biographies, served to investigate these issues. Interpretations of data are based on qualitative content analysis.

The results highlight that farming and tourism are highly enmeshed in the case study area and that the additional income creates room for manoeuvre for the farms to activate their adaptive capability. At the same time, peasant values guide the farming activities. The farms in this study demonstrate a strong farm resilience that is enabled by farm diversification and rooted in their peasant habitus. This positively affects the social-ecological resilience.

In contrast to other studies, which have mainly applied the concepts of social or community resilience to investigate the resilience and vulnerability of rural areas, this study highlights the resilience of farms in mountain areas.

The aim of this study was to reveal the role and importance of the milk collection centers in İzmir in assuring food safety in the Turkish dairy sector.

A five‐point Likert scale was applied to collect data on the food safety practices and the problems confronted in MCCs. The difference between the groups in the managers' and MCCs' specifications and the food safety applications in the MCCs were determined by one‐way ANOVA for continuous variables. For the continuous variables, a normal distribution test was applied by Jarque‐Bera test. For variables displaying normal distribution, analysis of variance (one‐way ANOVA) was performed. For the variables not displaying normal distribution, Kruskall‐Wallis test. In the evaluation of other data descriptive statistics were applied.

Because the milk in the MCCs is generally obtained from small‐scale family farms, it is not of the desired quality from a food safety and food quality perspective. The quality control analysis of raw milk cannot be carried out because of the lack of qualified specialists and equipment inadequacies. The most general test applied on milk delivery is based on the monitoring of the sensory properties of the milk.

All MCCs were covered in the sample size of the research and the questionnaires were applied to all 43 MCC managers in İzmir.

An effective organizational and educational structure must be established to monitor food safety and related practices in MCCs.

The paper adds to the body of knowledge on procecessors and their attitudes to food safety and suggests implementation of various practices which could improve results.

Regarding the global development of the wine industry, China has gained a notable share in terms of wine consumption, and its domestic wine production has increased steadily since 2000. The wine production process requires close coordination between growers and processors to avoid disruption and instability in the supply chain of the wine grapes. However, vertical coordination in the Chinese wine regions has received little attention. Based on the existing theoretical background on vertical coordination, this study aims to detect the evolution processes of vertical coordination in the Chinese grape market.

Exploratory qualitative research fits with the aim of this study. From December 2018 to January 2019, interviews with grape growers and wine processors of various Chinese wine-producing areas took place. After transcribing all recorded files into text, a qualitative data analysis following the approach of Mayring (2015) was used to analyse and interpret the data.

The models of vertical coordination in the grape supply in China vary between the producer's requirements on grape quality/quantity and the arrangements of grape supply chains, which are diverse depending on regional strategies of the local government.

However, in this research, the authors did not get into details on the organization of the contractual coordination, and due to the limited access to grape growers, the relationship between farmers and processors cannot be analysed in detail. With a better understanding of the coordination relationship and enhanced contract enforcement, the vineyard management and grape supply chain management can be better performed, inducing a steady industrial development.

Regarding the global development of the wine industry, China has gained a notable share in terms of wine consumption, and its domestic wine production has increased steadily since 2000. However, vertical coordination in the Chinese wine regions has received little attention. The study provides a first insight into the grape market structures, as very little is known.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors associated with the adoption of agro-processing methods and to estimate their impact on farm income and farm diversification.

Using a large-scale sample of 12,122 special crop farm households drawn from the 2015 Agricultural Census Survey in Taiwan, the semiparametric multivalued treatment effect model was estimated.

The authors found that agro-processing farm households obtain higher farm incomes than non-agro-processing farm households. Among the agro-processing methods, self-processing generates higher farm income than outsourced-processing. Moreover, farm households that adopt either agro-processing method are more likely to diversify into agritourism and other agribusinesses than non-agro-processing farms.

The authors could only access data on farm income and not on agro-processing costs. Future studies may address the impact of agro-processing on farm profitability if relevant data are available.

Very few studies have examined the relationship between agro-processing, farm income and farm diversification. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first papers to examine the impact of different agro-processing practices on farm income and farm diversification.

This paper is the result of empirical field research conducted in Alsace, a bi‐cultural area of France controlled by Germany from 1870 to WWI, by France between the World Wars, and by Germany during WWII. The objective of the study is to contribute to the understanding of small‐scale entrepreneurs who traditionally controlled the distribution of livestock in this bi‐cultural and multi‐lingual region.

This paper gives an account of the livestock distribution system, which prevailed in Alsace, until the Second World War. It uses qualitative methodology, based on oral testimonies of retired entrepreneurs and verified by means of triangulation.

The findings in this paper indicate that, in this region of traditional rivalry between French and Germans, the sector was dominated by family enterprises speaking Jédich‐Daitch, serving as a middleman minority, and dealing between French‐speakers and German‐speakers, who did not trade with one another.

This paper shows that, while much literature shows that middleman minorities now exist around the world, it also reveals that the concept of middleman minority existed centuries ago, in the food sector; the arrangement allowed farmers to specialise in agriculture, while specialised entrepreneurs bought and sold livestock and also provided credit to farmers. This paper is of interest to historians and anthropology/management/sociology scholars of entrepreneurship, as well as practitioners in the livestock industry.