Factors influencing the adoption of alternative farm enterprises and their integration into the Agro-food system.

European agriculture has undergone profound changes in recent years due to various factors. These factors could be classified under three headings: a) technical factors such as improved productivity, growing specialisation/intensification and concentration, b) economic factors such as closer integration with the other sectors of the economy and reduction in the importance of the primary sector, and c) social factors such as rural exodus and gradual decrease in the number of people working in the sector. The current financial stress in agriculture has generated widespread interest in alternative agriculture. Thus at the farm business level, the falling farm incomes force farmers to consider other sources of income, both on and off farms. One of the most commonly discussed options is the development of Alternative Farm Enterprises (AFEs) where farmers recombine the farm resources on the farm and produce a new mix of products and services, including non-agricultural ones. However, even though from a technological perspective all the AFEs can be considered as part of alternative agriculture, the may not serve a common - alternative - belief system as far as their external reliance is concerned. Farmers adopt and develop AFEs through different levels of integration (determined according to the technological dependence credit relations and marketing linkages) into the agro-food system. The present thesis adopt a farm business typology in examining the factors influencing the development of AFEs. Subsequently, the adopted AFEs are examined within the limits of their integration into the agro-food system and emphasis is put on the factors influencing the integration of AFEs into the agro-food system. A sample of 200 farmers from the prefecture of Etoloakarnania in Greece is analysed in order to identify the main tendencies of contemporary Greek agriculture as a case study.