An Alternative to Farmer Age as an Indicator of Life-Cycle Stage: The Case for a Farm Family Age Index

Autor/in	Burton, Rob J. F.
Titel	An Alternative to Farmer Age as an Indicator of Life-Cycle Stage: The Case for a Farm Family Age Index
Quelle	In: Journal of Rural Studies, 22 (2006) 4, S.485-492 (8 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0743-0167
DOI	10.1016/j.jrurstud.2006.02.005
Schlagwörter	Agricultural Occupations; Decision Making; Age; Social Indicators; Family (Sociological Unit); Foreign Countries; Farm Management; Rural Farm Residents; Indexes; United Kingdom (Scotland) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Agriculture; Occupation; Landwirtschaft; Beruf; Landwirtschaftlicher Beruf; Decision-making; Entscheidungsfindung; Alter; Lebensalter; Social indicator; Sozialer Indikator; Familie; Ausland; Indexdatei
Abstract	In studies of farming, the age of the principal decision-maker (PDM) has been associated with numerous farm structural and managerial features and has been widely accepted as a good indicator of the influence of life-cycle factors on decision-making. As such, it has become an important aspect of many quantitative studies of agricultural change. However, contemporary studies of family farming demonstrate that the concept of a single PDM in family farms is becoming an anachronism as alternative enterprises, pluriactivity and the scale of family farms force more diffuse management/operating systems. This raises questions concerning whether the age of the PDM can still be taken as representative of farm structure, strategy or life-cycle stage? Using a study conducted in the Grampian Mountains region of Scotland in 2003 this note investigates the impact of using an alternative index--compiled by averaging the age of family members working on the farm. It suggests that PDM age is a relatively poor indicator of farm structural and managerial features compared to a family age index and calls for researchers to think about alternative approaches to measuring "age" as an indicator. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10