Family farm succession and agroecology? A life-history approach to young farmers' sustainability strategies
Villán, Ana (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Villamayor Tomás, Sergio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciència Política i de Dret Públic)
Corbera, Esteve (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geografia)

Date:	2025
Abstract:	The generational renewal in family farms represents a pressing challenge for the sustainability of family farming, and agriculture more broadly. However, very few studies have investigated whether and how farm succession stimulates more sustainable farming. We apply an agroecology lens to farm sustainability and combine life-history research with other qualitative methods to describe three family farm succession pathways and investigate how these shape the farming strategies of young farmers in Castilla y León, Spain. We show how young farmers in blueprint succession pathways are inclined to continue with - and intensify - their parents' conventional farming strategies, assisted by farmer unions, public training, and policy subsidies. Agroecology appears instead after long disruptions in family succession as a cost-effective strategy to reinvigorate small and obsolete farms. Nonetheless, the agroecology transition is challenging, and disruptive successors have limited support from family, neighbors, farmer unions and subsidies. These findings problematize the idea that farm succession leads unequivocally to more sustainable farming, and suggest that generational renewal policies should broaden their compass to support disruptive succession processes and provide specific support for agroecological transitions.
Grants:	Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2021/SGR-00182 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M Generalitat de Catalunya 2022FI_B 00883
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Agroecology ; Conventional farming ; Disruptive succession ; Family farming ; Farm transfer ; Young farmers
Published in:	Journal of Rural Studies, Vol. 120 (December 2025) , art. 103815, ISSN 0743-0167

DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103815

15 p, 10.5 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles