Investigating Dairy Farmers′ Resilience under a Transforming Policy and a Market Regime: The Case of North Karelia, Finland

Rizzo Fulvio ()
Additional contact information
Rizzo Fulvio: Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, University of Eastern Finland, Tulliportinkatu 1, Educabuilding, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland

Quaestiones Geographicae, 2017, vol. 36, issue 2, 85-93

Abstract: The European dairy sector is currently facing unprecedented challenges under a transforming policy and a market regime. The expected changes will have relevant consequences for land use, the landscape, and the environment in rural areas dominated by dairy farming. Within this context, the aim of this paper is twofold. First, key characteristics of milk production in the region of North Karelia will be illustrated. Secondly, some light will be shed on dairy farmers′ challenges and adaptations to the dairy sector’s structural changes, and to what extent they contribute to the resilience of agricultural systems. In the light of an evident milk crisis, the findings suggest that farmers′ key challenge is the profitability of running a dairy enterprise. One of the consequences of the poor economic situation is the pressure to make investments in the conditions of a constantly changing policy. Flexibility and the ability to understand future trends are fundamental in adapting to socio-economic changes and unpredictability. Adaptation to unpredictability would not be possible without a key characteristic of farming activity: agriculture is not only a source of an income, but also a way of life, a sense of belonging to the land that significantly affects farmers′ decision-making.

Keywords: milk production; resilience; farmers′ adaptations; farmers′ challenges (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/quageo-2017-0017 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:quageo:v:36:y:2017:i:2:p:85-93:n:7

DOI: 10.1515/quageo-2017-0017

Access Statistics for this article

Quaestiones Geographicae is currently edited by Andrzej Kostrzewski

More articles in Quaestiones Geographicae from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().