Publications

The present report is the first methodological stage of the project. The aim of this literature review is to consider the models, methodologies, techniques, and data papers published on the subject of farmers’ skills and entrepreneurial capacity.  Together with the empirical research of the project, this leads to a definition of the concept of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills in agriculture.  Furtheron, it is examined to which extent policy implications are considered in the entrepreneurship literature and predominant research techniques and methods of data analysis are summarised.
Report (.pdf) (576.9 KB)

The development of entrepreneurial skills in agriculture is viewed by many as an important condition to generate sustainable rural development. However the scholarly and practitioner communities find it difficult to agree on how to define this set of skills. This, in turn, generates a diversity of approaches and methods used to research the topic. As with any scientific endeavour, definitional clarity seems a necessary precondition for progress.

The aim of thus book is to seek some definitional clarity. It does so by collecting the ways in which important members of the socio-technical network use the term entrepreneurial skills. How do farm advisors, scientists, the staff of farm unions and governmental actors conceptualise entrepreneurial skills? What do they see as necessary skills? And what ‘types’ of skills are deemed mandatory?
Report (.pdf) (1.1 MB)

In the former stages of the project, entrepreneurial skills have been identified. One of the objectives of the main study is to conceptualise the nature and content of these skills. Furthermore, the concept is applied in qualitative interviews in order to answer the research questions of the project concerning which political, economic, social and cultural factors influence the development of entrepreneurial skills.
Report (.pdf) (3.5 MB)

This publication consists of a web-based e-learning tool for farmers, which supports the development of entrepreneurial skills.

The tool has four aims:

• To provide information about entrepreneurial skills in farming in order to enhance understanding of the matter.
• To enable farmers to assess their own entrepreneurial skills and compare the results with other European farmers.
• To support reflection of own strengths and weaknesses in entrepreneurial skills and to train farmers in thinking from entrepreneurial skills’ perspectives.
• To train advisors and trainers concerning entrepreneurial skills in farming. Because the tool can also be used by teachers and trainers to evaluate and advise farmers how to become more entrepreneurial, the tool functions as a disseminator of knowledge about entrepreneurial skills in farming.

The tool consists of three units: Unit one provides a self-assessment for the farmer and the possibility to compare with the average of 775 other European farmers’ self-assessments. Unit two is a training section, in which farmers can practise the entrepreneurial skill perspective within different farm situations. And Unit three provides a second assessment with the aim of animating farmers to reflect about the training process.

The utilisation of the tool is free for all interested persons.
Download e-learning tool for entrepreneurial skills in farming (65.0 MB) (.zip, 69 MB)

Final project report of the EU-funded project Developing Entrepreneurial Skills of Farmer
Report (.pdf) (1.7 MB)