Modes and Forms of Knowledge of Farming Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Analysis among Small Farmers in NW Italy
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- On what grounds do farmers make their entrepreneurial choices?
- What are the modes and forms of knowledge that underpin farmers’ entrepreneurial choices?
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Cereals
My farm is like many other farms you find here around. I cultivate 40 hectares of cereals, mostly wheat and corn. I live on the farm with my family, and my fields are divided between three municipalities, the farthest about 10 km from home. I inherited the farm from my father, and he got it from his father. I almost doubled the land we had, but every year it is becoming harder and harder, and I am not sure there is any future for us ahead. The margins are becoming smaller and smaller, the costs higher and higher. I must plant cereals. Not because I want or love them but because they are the only thing that grows decently in this harsh soil. Until 20 years ago, we planted a lot of sugar beetroot. It was quite an interesting alternative and quite profitable. However, when they closed the sugar factory in Casei Girola, we weren’t able to sell the roots for a good price, so we ended up cultivating two things: wheat and corn.
I have to work for another 5 years before being eligible for retirement. I am sure I will also be farming after retirement. Always cereals, for sure. To change, I would have to invest a lot in making new wells—we must dig wells 80 to 100 m deep to find water–and buy new equipment. Why should I? I would need 20–30 years to pay back the money, and I do not want to leave my son to pay my debt [Pietro has one son in his early 20s who works in Milan in the service sector and expresses no intentions to continue Paolo’s job]. In such a situation, to continue with cereals is something like security. I do not need to do much investment; I know to whom I can sell my products; I can try new varieties without compromising my farm and my family economically. So, this year is corn and wheat; next year will be wheat and corn. In the end, in my situation, why change?
3.2. Hazelnuts
The hazelnut was for all of us [farmers] like a dream and a new hope. I started with a few giornatas [the giornata is the traditional unit of measurement in Piedmont, equal to about a third of a hectare]. When production began, I saw that it could be an alternative solution for us. Every year I extend a piece of land. I reached 12 hectares of hazelnuts. That new piece of land is a piece of future for me and my children.
It was yielding too little. I sold my products through the winery cooperative, but it only paid the expenses. Wheat is better, I told myself. Frankly, if I hadn’t had my young children to support and I had fewer years to work until retirement … I don’t think I would have done it. I probably would have accepted to just get by until the end and then … let the others think about it. I like to think that everything won’t be finished in a few years, and I still hope that they [the children] will take up the company. However, I understood that the future is different for each of us. For those who know how to sell wine, the vine will be their future. For me, it is the hazelnut, and that is the future I intend to pursue.
To know that all my products are, let’s say, already sold without a big fuss is absolutely important. Even more, it is to know that the market wants more and more hazelnuts. It means that my land will also have value in the future and, even if my sons won’t continue working on the farm, they can sell the field—this idea makes my heart ache but … you know, better be realistic about the risks–and repay the investments I made and continue working. I am optimistic about it.
4. Discussion
- Environmental knowledge, which is knowledge concerning the physical and historical characteristics of the farms’ locale (e.g., the type of soil, agricultural history of the place, and presence and function of infrastructures needed for the business, such as irrigation or road systems);
- Farming knowledge, which comprises the technical agricultural know-how concerning the different types of cultivation;
- Farm knowledge, which encompasses knowledge concerning the trend of the market as well as its needs and perspectives;
- Private knowledge, which consists of emotional and factual knowledge concerning the needs and desires of the farmers and their families.
- Individual work expectations, which are the economic and affective anticipations lying in farming;
- The expected life of the enterprise, which is the anticipated end of the farm’s business life;
- Geographical characteristics, which concern the possibilities provided by the local environment and its change;
- The economic expectation of turnover from the cultivation, which is the expected income generated in the short and medium terms by cultivation.
5. Conclusions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
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Factors | Paolo | Carlo |
---|---|---|
Individual’s work expectations | At least 5 years before retirement Continuation after retirement as a part-time farmer | At least 7 years before retirement Continuation after retirement as a part-time farmer |
Expected life of the enterprise | 5–20 years | 5–20 years Possibility of transgenerational continuation |
Geographical characteristics | Scarcely versatile terroir | Scarcely versatile terroir |
Economic expectation of turnover from the cultivation | EUR 40,000 /year in the condition of a stiffening market | EUR 55,000 /year in the condition of an expanding market |
Perception of the future | Economic decline | Economic expansion |
Entrepreneurial choice | De-investment Avoid change | Investment Further cultivation change |
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Fontefrancesco, M.F. Modes and Forms of Knowledge of Farming Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Analysis among Small Farmers in NW Italy. Knowledge 2021, 1, 2-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/knowledge1010002
Fontefrancesco MF. Modes and Forms of Knowledge of Farming Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Analysis among Small Farmers in NW Italy. Knowledge. 2021; 1(1):2-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/knowledge1010002
Chicago/Turabian StyleFontefrancesco, Michele Filippo. 2021. "Modes and Forms of Knowledge of Farming Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Analysis among Small Farmers in NW Italy" Knowledge 1, no. 1: 2-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/knowledge1010002