THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERNATIVE FARM ENTERPRISES - A STUDY OF FAMILY LABOR FARMS IN THE NORTHERN PENNINES OF ENGLAND

This paper offers an empirical test of a middle-order theorisation of business change on family labour farms. The concept of paths of farm b usiness development' is examined in the northern Pennines of England u sing discriminant analysis and 34 variables drawn from the published l iterature on the dynamics of the family farm. Farm indebtedness is sho wn to be the dominant variable discriminating between farms in the dif ferent pathways, although the exact role of farm debt varies between p athways. Farm families selecting the alternative farm enterprise (AFE) pathway can tie divided between those that display 'accumulation' (pr incipal AFE) and 'survival' (marginal AFE) behaviours. The findings ar e contextualised to the U.K. and an era of historically high interest rates and farm indebtedness. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.