Sustainable Family Farming Futures: Exploring the Challenges of Family Farm Decision Making through an Emotional Lens of ‘Belonging’

This paper illustrates the importance of moving beyond an economic focus, and towards an emotional one, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of why farmers can be reluctant to retire and/or pass their farm onto the next generation. We report on a two-phase qualitative study of family farm deci...

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Autores principales:	Lorraine A. Holloway, Gemma Catney, Aileen Stockdale, Roy Nelson
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	family farm ageing farmers retirement succession emotions decision making Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b376f439dc004f78a75fbfeec3895eb9
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b376f439dc004f78a75fbfeec3895eb92021-11-11T19:49:48ZSustainable Family Farming Futures: Exploring the Challenges of Family Farm Decision Making through an Emotional Lens of ‘Belonging’10.3390/su1321122712071-1050https://doaj.org/article/b376f439dc004f78a75fbfeec3895eb92021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/12271https://doaj.org/toc/2071-1050This paper illustrates the importance of moving beyond an economic focus, and towards an emotional one, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of why farmers can be reluctant to retire and/or pass their farm onto the next generation. We report on a two-phase qualitative study of family farm decision-making processes in Northern Ireland, drawing on 62 in-depth oral life history interviews with farmers, farmers’ spouses, and farm successors. In an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the emotional aspects of retirement and succession decision-making processes, and their relationship with place belonging, in the first phase of this research we employed an innovative ‘Work and Talk’ method, whereby interviews were conducted while shadowing, or in some cases, co-working, with farmers on their land. The second phase of this research responded to restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and involved remote telephone or online interviews with family farm members. This research revealed the complex relationships between a ‘longing for belonging’ and emotional attachment to the family farm, and the challenges associated with patrilineal farming structures, expectations and identities, in planning for succession. The emotional impacts of strained relationships with policy makers around support for retirement emerged as a surprisingly dominant theme throughout the interview process, suggesting the need for greater emphasis on the emotional aspects of farming retirement and succession planning to inform future rural development policies targeted towards the sustainability of family farms.Lorraine A. HollowayGemma CatneyAileen StockdaleRoy NelsonMDPI AGarticlefamily farmageing farmersretirementsuccessionemotionsdecision makingEnvironmental effects of industries and plantsTD194-195Renewable energy sourcesTJ807-830Environmental sciencesGE1-350ENSustainability, Vol 13, Iss 12271, p 12271 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	family farm ageing farmers retirement succession emotions decision making Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	family farm ageing farmers retirement succession emotions decision making Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Lorraine A. Holloway Gemma Catney Aileen Stockdale Roy Nelson Sustainable Family Farming Futures: Exploring the Challenges of Family Farm Decision Making through an Emotional Lens of ‘Belonging’
description	This paper illustrates the importance of moving beyond an economic focus, and towards an emotional one, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of why farmers can be reluctant to retire and/or pass their farm onto the next generation. We report on a two-phase qualitative study of family farm decision-making processes in Northern Ireland, drawing on 62 in-depth oral life history interviews with farmers, farmers’ spouses, and farm successors. In an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the emotional aspects of retirement and succession decision-making processes, and their relationship with place belonging, in the first phase of this research we employed an innovative ‘Work and Talk’ method, whereby interviews were conducted while shadowing, or in some cases, co-working, with farmers on their land. The second phase of this research responded to restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and involved remote telephone or online interviews with family farm members. This research revealed the complex relationships between a ‘longing for belonging’ and emotional attachment to the family farm, and the challenges associated with patrilineal farming structures, expectations and identities, in planning for succession. The emotional impacts of strained relationships with policy makers around support for retirement emerged as a surprisingly dominant theme throughout the interview process, suggesting the need for greater emphasis on the emotional aspects of farming retirement and succession planning to inform future rural development policies targeted towards the sustainability of family farms.
format	article
author	Lorraine A. Holloway Gemma Catney Aileen Stockdale Roy Nelson
author_facet	Lorraine A. Holloway Gemma Catney Aileen Stockdale Roy Nelson
author_sort	Lorraine A. Holloway
title	Sustainable Family Farming Futures: Exploring the Challenges of Family Farm Decision Making through an Emotional Lens of ‘Belonging’
title_short	Sustainable Family Farming Futures: Exploring the Challenges of Family Farm Decision Making through an Emotional Lens of ‘Belonging’
title_full	Sustainable Family Farming Futures: Exploring the Challenges of Family Farm Decision Making through an Emotional Lens of ‘Belonging’
title_fullStr	Sustainable Family Farming Futures: Exploring the Challenges of Family Farm Decision Making through an Emotional Lens of ‘Belonging’
title_full_unstemmed	Sustainable Family Farming Futures: Exploring the Challenges of Family Farm Decision Making through an Emotional Lens of ‘Belonging’
title_sort	sustainable family farming futures: exploring the challenges of family farm decision making through an emotional lens of ‘belonging’
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/b376f439dc004f78a75fbfeec3895eb9
work_keys_str_mv	AT lorraineaholloway sustainablefamilyfarmingfuturesexploringthechallengesoffamilyfarmdecisionmakingthroughanemotionallensofbelonging AT gemmacatney sustainablefamilyfarmingfuturesexploringthechallengesoffamilyfarmdecisionmakingthroughanemotionallensofbelonging AT aileenstockdale sustainablefamilyfarmingfuturesexploringthechallengesoffamilyfarmdecisionmakingthroughanemotionallensofbelonging AT roynelson sustainablefamilyfarmingfuturesexploringthechallengesoffamilyfarmdecisionmakingthroughanemotionallensofbelonging
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Sustainable Family Farming Futures: Exploring the Challenges of Family Farm Decision Making through an Emotional Lens of ‘Belonging’

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