Agriculture in Transition Can We Bridge the Widening Gap between Family Farming and Market Demands?

Compared to other industries, agriculture is rather unstable due to factors such as highly complex biological systems, and dependence on climate. (Cochrane, 2000). However, the increasing uncertainties for the independent farming community originates mainly from the rapid and accelerating structural change in agriculture, which is creating a more industrialized model of production (Boehlje et al., 1999a). The resulting increase of instability raises the volatility of the economic environment for almost every agricultural enterprise.