Ian Bowler

The development of alternative farm enterprises: A study of family labour farms in the northern Pennines of England

Abstract This paper offers an empirical test of a middle-order theorisation of business change on family labour farms. The concept of ‘paths of farm business development’ is examined in the northern Pennines of England using discriminant analysis and 34 variables drawn from the published literature on the dynamics of the family farm. Farm indebtedness is shown to be the dominant variable discriminating between farms in the different pathways, although the exact role of farm debt varies between pathways. Farm families selecting the alternative farm enterprise (AFE) pathway can be divided between those that display ‘accumulation’ (principal AFE) and ‘survival’ (marginal AFE) behaviours. The findings are contextualised to the U.K. and an era of historically high interest rates and farm indebtedness.

Endogenous Agricultural Development in Western Europe

The contemporary regional development of agriculture is commonly interpreted as a variable spatial response to exogenous pressures exerted by the globalisation of the farm sector. However, farm families and networks of institutions in interaction have the capacity to generate endogenous processes in regional agricultural development. This interpretation is explored in the context of farm diversification (alternative farm enterprises – AFE) in five lagging regions of the European Union – West of Ireland, Highlands of Scotland, northern Pennines of England, Massif Central of France, and West-Central Greece. The varying regional development of farm diversification is explored through an analysis of ‘paths of farm business development’, ‘institutional thickness’ and the relationship between farm families and networked institutions. The analysis identifies a selective failure of ‘functional connectivity’ between farm families involved in endogenous agricultural development and regional institutional networks for rural development.

Modelling Farm Diversification in Regions Using Expert and Decision Support Systems

Abstract The building of expert systems (ES) and decision support systems (DSS) has become a recent feature of many academic disciplines, but few examples can be found in human geography research. This paper draws attention to the potential of ES and DSS by reporting research on modelling farm diversification in the northern Pennines of England for four agricultural policy ‘scenarios’. The results of similar modelling in four other ‘lagging’ regions of the European Union (in Ireland, Scotland, France and Greece) are discussed. The research shows the opportunities that diversification can bring to farm businesses, including raised farm incomes and increased farm employment. But much depends on the willingness and ability of farmers to modify traditional farming systems, undertake the borrowing of capital and occupy more farmland.

Institutions, Alternative Farming Systems, and Local Reregulation

The weakening of the postwar nexus of a productivist agriculture and a distinctive system of regulating the rural economy has created new challenges for British rural institutions. The task of diversifying rural and farm economies has required the institutions to change how they operate. Using the concept of the local mode of social regulation (MSR) we explore the interrelationships between the development of alternative farming systems and the institutional regulatory environment, using as a case study an area in northern England. We conclude by demonstrating how institutions cope with new policy challenges. The diversity of local responses to this challenge is illustrated and the links between local and national MSRs are explored.

Sustainable Farming Systems

As previous chapters have shown, the meaning of ‘sustainable’ is both socially constructed and contested; in addition the term can be more usefully considered as a desired process or trajectory of change rather than a prescribed condition. But instead of revisiting these issues in the context of farming systems, attention is directed to the three widely recognised dimensions of sustainable development as applied to agriculture, namely environment, economy and society. Following Bowler (2001a): the environmental (ecological) dimension of sustainable agricultural change includes the utilisation of natural capital, such as soil (land) and water, so that their use is reproducible over succeeding generations, the enhancement of biodiversity, and the recycling of farm wastes and nutrients so as not to cause pollution of the biosphere, especially water resources the economic dimension concerns the maintenance of supplies of agricultural raw materials and services to both the farm and non-farm populations, but including the attainment of satisfactory levels in the economic returns to farm land, labour and capital, and in the costs of state subsidies to farming. Here the definitions of ‘satisfactory’ are contested between farm and non-farm interests and are largely politically determined the social dimension includes the retention of an optimum level of farm population, the maintenance of an acceptable quality of farm life, the equitable distribution of material benefits from economic growth, and the building of ‘capacity’ in the farm community to participate in the development process, including the use of knowledge to create new choices and options over time. In this dimension, the terms ‘optimum’, ‘acceptable’ and ‘equitable’ are all

Revising the research agenda on agricultural policy in developed market economies

Abstract Intervention by the state in agriculture is under increasing scrutiny world-wide as the financial cost to both consumers and taxpayers rises. This paper analyses the consequences for research of the contemporary and prospective revision of agricultural intervention, with attention directed to both direct and indirect farm support programmes. The discussion emphasizes the need for researchers to place their analyses within a more explicit conceptual framework of state-agriculture relations than in the past. A number of alternative frameworks are discussed including the previously dominant policy process model. Policy impact assessments emerge as the most researched area of state-agriculture relations, although recent research on the cost of agricultural support programmes is emphasized, together with projected effects of trade liberalization agreements. The paper concludes by drawing up a research agenda for the 1990s on agricultural intervention.

Britain's uncertain future in the international horticultural market

The UK has been more adversely affected by changes in the horticultural industry of the European Union than many other member countries. Both orchard and glasshouse production have progressed little since the 1970s and only a small proportion of growers have taken advantage of a recent government scheme designed to inject capital into the industry. The future for UK growers is not good and up to 75% could go out of production altogether over the next 10 to 20 years unless their competitiveness can be improved, for instance by upgrading the marketing system in the UK.

‘Non-market failure’ in agricultural policy—A review of the literature for the European Community

Abstract ‘Non-market’ or political failure is increasingly used to explain the contemporary problems of agricultural policy, especially in the context of the European Community. This paper brings together and reviews a selection of the considerable literature on the political process in the Community as it relates to agriculture. A decision-making framework of analysis is used to focus attention on the process of integration in relation to agriculture, as well as the central institutions—the European Commission and the Council of Ministers—and the agricultural interest as expressed through the European Parliament and pressure groups. The review shows that our knowledge about the relative importance of these various sources of power and influence within the Community is still incomplete, and that any explanation of ‘non-market failure’ must recognise the shifting locus of responsibility within the complex decision-making structure of the Community. In recent years, for example, the power of finance ministers to influence agricultural policy has increased following the problems of financing the budget of the European Community.

Direct supply control in agriculture: Experience in Western Europe and North America

Abstract Agricultural over-production is an increasing problem in many countries. A variety of agricultural policy measures have been developed to counteract farm surpluses, but this paper focuses on direct supply controls, particularly production quotas. The Canadian dairy quota programme is evaluated in detail, with an emphasis given to the containment of milk production and the cost of government price supports for the dairy sector. Attention is directed to the high rate of attrition in the number of dairy farms, the expansion of the fluid milk market, and the tradeable character of the production quotas. Canadian experience is then related to the milk quota system introduced by the European Community in 1984.