Skip to main content

Farmer Types and Motivation

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:

Synonyms

Economic versus noneconomic motives; Farmer attitudes/preferences/goals/reasons/values; Farmer decision making, decision criteria, strategy, rationale; Farmer heterogeneity/diversity; Farmer types/groups/categories; Management styles; Mental framework; Normative assumptions; Perception of constraints and opportunities; Perspectives on agricultural stewardship; Styles of farming; Typology

Introduction

Building on the diversity of agricultural practices and the observation that even under similar conditions, not all farmers make similar choices, farmer types are often used to distinguish between groups (or types) of farmers. A farmer type is usually described through the interrelationships between attributes, e.g., farmers’ socioeconomic characteristics, their values, the characteristics of their enterprises, and their biophysical assets. Farmer types are thus a means to make sense of the complex relationships between multiple factors that can influence farmer behavior.

This...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   649.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   799.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Darnhofer, I., Schneeberger, W., & Freyer, B. (2005). Converting or not converting to organic farming in Austria: Farmer types and their rationale. Agriculture and Human Values, 22, 39–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, B. B., & Hodge, I. D. (2007). Exploring environmental perspectives in lowland agriculture: A Q methodology study in East Anglia, UK. Ecological Economics, 61, 323–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emtage, N., Herbohn, H., & Harrison, S. (2006). Landholder typologies used in the development of natural resource management programs in Australia. A review. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 13, 79–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairweather, J., & Keating, N. (1994). Goals and management styles of New Zealand farmers. Agricultural Systems, 44, 181–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farmar-Bowers, Q., & Lane, R. (2009). Understanding farmers’ strategic decision-making processes and the implications for biodiversity conservation policy. Journal of Environmental Management, 90, 1135–1144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Girard, N. (2006). Catégoriser les pratiques d’agriculteurs pour reformuler un problème en partenariat. Une proposition méthodologique [Categorising farmers’ practices to reformulate a problem in partnership: A method for building situation-specific typologies]. Cahiers Agriculture, 15, 261–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glenna, L., Jussaume, R., & Dawson, J. (2011). How farmers matter in shaping agricultural technologies: Social and structural characteristics of wheat growers and wheat varieties. Agriculture and Human Values, 28, 213–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greiner, R., Patterson, L., & Miller, O. (2009). Motivations, risk perception and adoption of conservation practices by farmers. Agricultural Systems, 99, 86–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, J., Gaskell, P., Mills, J., & Short, C. (2013). Incorporating agri-environment schemes into farm development pathways: A temporal analysis of farmer motivation. Land Use Policy, 31, 267–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kluge, S. (2000). Empirically grounded construction of types and typologies in qualitative social research. Forum: Qualitative Social Research. http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1124/2499

  • Kuehne, G., Bjornlund, H., & Cheers, B. (2007). There’s more than one type of farmer: Acknowledging farmers’ diversity – An Australian perspective. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 2, 179–186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann, S., & Gairing, M. (2012). ‘Loyals’ and ‘optimizers’: Shedding light on the decision for or against organic agriculture among Swiss farmers. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 25, 365–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, C., & Potter, C. (1995). Recruiting the new conservationists: Farmers’ adoption of agri-environmental schemes in the U.K. Journal of Rural Studies, 11, 51–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, J., Mills, J., & Crawford, I. (2000). Promoting farmer uptake of agri-environment schemes: The Countryside Stewardship Arable Options Scheme. Land Use Policy, 17, 241–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riley, M. (2011). Turning farmers into conservationists? Progress and prospects. Geography Compass, 5, 369–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soini, K., Diaz, C., Gandini, G., de Haas, Y., Lilja, T., Martin-Collado, D., Pizzi, F., & Hiemstra, S. J. (2012). Developing a typology for local cattle breed farmers in Europe. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics, 129, 436–447.

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Ploeg, J. D. (1993). Rural sociology and the new agrarian question. A perspective from the Netherlands. Sociologia Ruralis, 33, 240–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walford, N. (2003). Productivism is allegedly dead, long life productivism. Evidence of continued productivist attitudes and decision-making in South-East England. Journal of Rural Studies, 19, 491–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ika Darnhofer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature B.V.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Darnhofer, I., Walder, P. (2019). Farmer Types and Motivation. In: Kaplan, D.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1179-9_86

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics