| Abstract |
Recent trends in rural development policies lead towards more entrepreneurial and sustainable models of agriculture. Official documents underline how the new European agricultural model is based on either high added value activities and on `agronomically' sound and sustainable agricultural systems as vital to guaranteeing competitiveness on local, regional and international markets. Consequently, new competitive farming activities rely on competition by quality, product and service innovation, market governance (niche markets and alternative food network), farm diversification. Therefore, opportunity clusters may emerge, bringing about business development even in marginal rural areas. To exploit these opportunities, a collective entrepreneurial strategy is at stake, where the family is strategic. In many cases, the level of education may mark differences in the strategic paths at family farm level. The present work aims to analyse the role of human family capital, by taking into account the `family level of education' as explanatory variable of processes of transition towards multifunctional agriculture. Results confirm collective family education as strictly correlated to the adoption of portfolio strategies. |
