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Format:
Print
Author:
Pescatore, Matthew
Dept./Program:
Community Development and Applied Economics
Year:
2013
Degree:
MS
Abstract:
Multifunctional farm activities are a viable tool in supporting rural development. These practices help establish links between the farms and their local economies through shortening supply chains, enriching existing social networks, and establishing alternative streams of revenue for farm families. Conversely these activities are a way for farIns to act as contributors to rural development in employment opportunities through on-farm labor. Multifunctionality is a land-use policy in European agriculture and a transferable model for rural development in The United States and other developed agriculnrral systems.
Multifunctional Farm activities (MFA) are described as activities that exceed the traditional production of food and fiber. These operations include agritourism, direct sales to consumers, value-added product creation, and availability of off-farm income. These activities are thought to aid in economically supporting on-farm enterprises for US farm families. Small-to-medium sized farms are being edged out oftheir market share due to increasing cost of farm input and decreasing food price. MFA offer supplementary income opportunities for farm families to subsist in the agricultural market.
This paper will present some preliminary results of an on-going study funded by the USDA NIFA program to examine multifunctional operations in New England using survey data conducted in 2011-2012. Particularly we will present a summary of findings, geospatial analysis, and relationship between these activities, farmer characteristics and motivations through a regression analysis. These analyses show that multifunctional agriculture depends on interconnected networks ofpeople and commerce and appeal to a specific type of farmer.
The summary of findings presents a snapshot of how these activities are occurring and will help categorize some of the data collected through two survey instruments over two years. The spatial analysis serves as the first step to examine the clusters between the multifunctional agricultural activities and supportive/complementary systems such as social networks, areas of high population density, road systems, and areas ofparticular interests to tourists. Regression and relationships between survey questions will be utilized to identify the characteristics of farmers partaking in MFA and how it affects their financial and personal outcomes.