Agricultural diversity, farmers’ definitions and uses: The case of Tasmanian farms

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Tacconi, Francesco, Lefroy, Darcy, Waha, Katharina, Jonathan, Jonathan Jesus, Leith, Peat and Mohammed, Caroline. 2024. "Agricultural diversity, farmers’ definitions and uses: The case of Tasmanian farms." Journal of Rural Studies. 108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103266
Article Title

Agricultural diversity, farmers’ definitions and uses: The case of Tasmanian farms

ERA Journal ID20886
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsTacconi, Francesco, Lefroy, Darcy, Waha, Katharina, Jonathan, Jonathan Jesus, Leith, Peat and Mohammed, Caroline
Journal TitleJournal of Rural Studies
Journal Citation108
Article Number103266
Number of Pages13
Year2024
PublisherElsevier
ISSN0743-0167
1873-1392
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103266
Web Address (URL)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016724000706
AbstractAgricultural diversity can contribute to improving agriculture and food systems sustainability, but it is commonly associated with smallholdings and subsistence farming. The drivers and trade-offs around diversification strategies in high-income countries remain poorly understood. Tasmania, due to its diverse climate and geography, is among the most agro-diverse regions in Australia, which makes it an interesting case to study. This paper addresses three main research questions: (1) How do farmers define agricultural diversity and diversification? 2) How is diversification ‘used’ as a farming strategy? and 3) What incentives and barriers are currently structuring the adoption of these strategies? We conducted Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews with 95 farmers across Tasmania and analyse them qualitatively using thematic analysis. Our findings show that attitudes and motivations towards agricultural diversity vary among farmers depending on personal experiences, values and farming backgrounds and context. These motivations may influence the role that agricultural diversity plays within farms. We could identify a net distinction between farmers using diversification strategies: (1) as integral components of their business to respond to different needs and purposes, (2) purely as additional business opportunities or (3) for motivations that go beyond the financial value. Nevertheless, other farmers prefer specialisation as they find it more profitable or consider that investing in additional activities is too demanding or financially risky. As only 14 farms in our sample specialised in a single product, our results suggest that agricultural diversification strategies can also represent viable options also in a high-income country. However, the variety of responses and perspectives among the participants of this study indicates that future research and policy interventions promoting agricultural diversity should aim to identify and address the specific challenges encountered by the different approaches to diversification employed by farmers.
KeywordsAgrobiodiversity; Farmer decision-making ; Australia; Farmer perceptions ; Farmer survey ; Thematic analysis
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 20203001. Agricultural biotechnology
Byline AffiliationsCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia
University of Tasmania
University of Augsburg, Germany
Terradot, United States
Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Systems
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