What is it about?
Ex-post evaluation of value determinants of intergenerational change in agriculture revealed that offspring of scouts and traditionalists with human values have a higher chance of successful farming continuity than other offspring. The theoretical contribution of this article is that human values predict farming continuity and should be built and transmitted in intra-family communication. Human values as internal determinants of farming continuity should be more emphasized in research because they can be managed and shaped through parent-offspring relationships.
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Why is it important?
This article fills a gap in the existing literature by focusing on one of the internal determinants of successful farming continuity – human values. The problem relates not only to succession on the family farm, but also to continuity of labour on the farm. This article aims to provide an ex-post assessment of the value determinants of generational change in farming. The article focuses not only on family farms, but more broadly on continuing agricultural production. The descendants with the human values of scouts and traditionalists have a higher chance of successful farming than other descendants. While traditionalists represent persistence-oriented offspring who believe it is important to do what they are told and follow the rules, follow traditions and customs, and behave properly, scouts lay on responsibility for stakeholders’ welfare and have strong socioemotional wealth. In addition, the larger household size and longer commute time to the regional centre of the labour market greatly increase the chance of farming continuity.
Perspectives
Although the article provides a fascinating insight into the factors influencing farm continuity, there are still some intriguing research problems. One question is whether the human values that are built and passed on in the family are maintained as gender roles change. It would also be interesting to observe conflicts between the values of the firm and the family members, given the assumed heterogeneity of values among family members. It would also be interesting to qualitatively examine the process of handing over the family business in time-lapse and record a timeline of critical points.
Dr Jindřich Špička
University of Economics, Prague
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The impact of human values on the chance of farming continuity, International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, March 2022, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/14735903.2022.2047469.
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