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Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19

This paper explores to what extent product and marketing channel diversification contributed to the economic success of small-scale agricultural producers involved in short food supply chains after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was conducted between April and July 2020 in four coun...

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Autores principales: Benedek, Zsófia, Fertő, Imre, Galamba Marreiros, Cristina, de Aguiar, Pâmela Mossmann, Pocol, Cristina Bianca, Čechura, Lukáš, Põder, Anne, Pääso, Piia, Bakucs, Zoltán
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8139471/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34019544
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251715
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author Benedek, Zsófia
Fertő, Imre
Galamba Marreiros, Cristina
de Aguiar, Pâmela Mossmann
Pocol, Cristina Bianca
Čechura, Lukáš
Põder, Anne
Pääso, Piia
Bakucs, Zoltán
author_facet Benedek, Zsófia
Fertő, Imre
Galamba Marreiros, Cristina
de Aguiar, Pâmela Mossmann
Pocol, Cristina Bianca
Čechura, Lukáš
Põder, Anne
Pääso, Piia
Bakucs, Zoltán
author_sort Benedek, Zsófia
collection PubMed
description This paper explores to what extent product and marketing channel diversification contributed to the economic success of small-scale agricultural producers involved in short food supply chains after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was conducted between April and July 2020 in four countries of the European Union–Estonia, Hungary, Portugal and Romania,–resulting in a relatively large sample of farmers (N = 421). The analysis was built on a semi-nonparametric approach. Approximately 19 percent of small-scale producers were able to increase sales during the first wave of the pandemic, although country-level variation was significant. Fruits and vegetables were by far the most popular products. The importance of specific channels varied across countries, but farm gate sales were among the most important marketing channels both before and during the first wave. The importance of channels that were based on digital resources and home delivery increased. Our evidence indicates that diversification was a strategy that paid off, both in terms of marketing channels and different product categories. However, the impact appears to be nonlinear; the initial advantage generated by diversification rapidly tapered off, either temporarily (in the case of products), or permanently (in the case of marketing channels). Later research may clarify whether these findings are generalizable in other socio-economic contexts, as well as in a non-COVID situation.
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spelling pubmed-81394712021-06-02 Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19 Benedek, Zsófia Fertő, Imre Galamba Marreiros, Cristina de Aguiar, Pâmela Mossmann Pocol, Cristina Bianca Čechura, Lukáš Põder, Anne Pääso, Piia Bakucs, Zoltán PLoS One Research Article This paper explores to what extent product and marketing channel diversification contributed to the economic success of small-scale agricultural producers involved in short food supply chains after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was conducted between April and July 2020 in four countries of the European Union–Estonia, Hungary, Portugal and Romania,–resulting in a relatively large sample of farmers (N = 421). The analysis was built on a semi-nonparametric approach. Approximately 19 percent of small-scale producers were able to increase sales during the first wave of the pandemic, although country-level variation was significant. Fruits and vegetables were by far the most popular products. The importance of specific channels varied across countries, but farm gate sales were among the most important marketing channels both before and during the first wave. The importance of channels that were based on digital resources and home delivery increased. Our evidence indicates that diversification was a strategy that paid off, both in terms of marketing channels and different product categories. However, the impact appears to be nonlinear; the initial advantage generated by diversification rapidly tapered off, either temporarily (in the case of products), or permanently (in the case of marketing channels). Later research may clarify whether these findings are generalizable in other socio-economic contexts, as well as in a non-COVID situation. Public Library of Science 2021-05-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8139471/ /pubmed/34019544 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251715 Text en © 2021 Benedek et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Benedek, Zsófia
Fertő, Imre
Galamba Marreiros, Cristina
de Aguiar, Pâmela Mossmann
Pocol, Cristina Bianca
Čechura, Lukáš
Põder, Anne
Pääso, Piia
Bakucs, Zoltán
Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19
title Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19
title_full Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19
title_fullStr Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19
title_short Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19
title_sort farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by covid-related lockdown. contributions from a survey conducted in four european countries during the first wave of covid-19
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8139471/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34019544
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251715
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