Key Concepts: Defining Agricultural Entrepreneurship
Why Agricultural Entrepreneurship?
Traditionally, agriculture is seen as a low-tech industry with limited dynamics dominated by numerous small family firms which are mostly focused on doing things better rather than doing new things. Over the last decade, this situation has changed dramatically due to economic liberalization, a reduced protection of agricultural markets, and a fast changing, more critical, society. Agricultural companies increasingly have to adapt to the vagaries of the market, changing consumer habits, enhanced environmental regulations, new requirements for product quality, chain management, food safety, sustainability, and so on. These changes have cleared the way for new entrants, innovation, and portfolio entrepreneurship. It is recognized by politicians, practitioners as well as scientists that farmers and growers increasingly require...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alsos GA, Carter S, Ljunggren E, Welter F, editors. The handbook of research on entrepreneurship in agriculture and rural development. Cheltenham/Northampton: Edward Elgar; 2011.
Baron RA, Ensley MD. Opportunity recognition as the detection of meaningful patterns: evidence from comparisons of novice and experienced entrepreneurs. Manag Sci. 2006;52(9):1331–44.
Bock BB. Fitting in and multi-tasking: Dutch farm women’s strategies in rural entrepreneurship. Sociol Rural. 2004;44(3):245–60.
Carter S. Multiple business ownership in the farm sector: assessing the enterprise and employment contributions of farmers in Cambridgeshire. J Rural Stud. 1999;15(4):417–29.
Chandler GN, Jansen E. The founder’s self-assessed competence and venture performance. J Bus Venturing. 1992;7(3):223–236.
DeTienne DR, Chandler GN. Opportunity identification and its role in the entrepreneurial classroom: a pedagogical approach and empirical test. Acad Manag Learn Educ. 2004;3(3):242–57.
Gartner WB. ‘Who is an entrepreneur?’ is the wrong question. Entrep Theory Pract. 1989;13:47–68.
Gasson R, Crow G, Errington A, Hutson J, Marsden T, Winter M. The farm as a family business: a review. J Agr Econ. 1988;39:1–41.
Jervell AM. The family farm as a premise for entrepreneurship. In: Alsos GA, Carter S, Ljunggren AE, Welter F, editors. The handbook of research on entrepreneurship in agriculture and rural development. Cheltenham/Northhampton: Edward Elgar; 2011.
Klerkx L, Jansen J. Building knowledge systems for sustainable agriculture: supporting private advisors to adequately address sustainable farm management in regular service contacts. Int J Agric Sustain. 2010;8(3):148–63.
Klerkx L, Leeuwis C. The emergence and embedding of innovation brokers at different innovation system levels: insights from the Dutch agricultural sector. Technol Forecast Soc Change. 2009a;76(6):849–60.
Klerkx L, Leeuwis C. Shaping collective functions in privatized agricultural knowledge and information systems: the positioning and embedding of a network broker in the Dutch dairy sector. J Agric Educ Ext. 2009b;15(1):81–105.
Klerkx L, Proctor A. Beyond fragmentation and disconnect: networks for knowledge exchange in the English land management advisory system. Land Use Policy. 2013;30(1):13–24.
Lans T, Biemans H, Mulder M, Verstegen J. Self-awareness of mastery and improvability of entrepreneurial competence in small businesses in the agrifood sector. Human Resour Dev Q. 2010;21(2):147–68.
Lans T, Biemans H, Verstegen J, Mulder M. The influence of the work environment on entrepreneurial learning of small-business owners. Manag Learn. 2008;39(5):597–613.
Lans T, Verstegen J, Mulder M. Analysing, pursuing and networking: a validated three-factor framework for entrepreneurial competence from a small business perspective. Int Small Bus J. 2011;29(6):695–713.
Lumpkin GT, Dess GG. Linking two dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation to firm performance: the moderating role of environment and industry life cycle. J Bus Venturing. 2001;16(5):429–51.
McClelland DC. The achieving society. New York: First Free Press; 1967.
McElwee G. A taxonomy of entrepreneurial farmers. Int J Entrep Small Bus. 2008;6:465–78.
Phillipson J, Gorton M, Raley M, Moxey A. Treating farms as firms? The evolution of farm business support from productionist to entrepreneurial models. Environ Plan C Govern Policy. 2004;22(1):31–54.
Pyysiäinen J, Anderson A, McElwee G, Vesala K. Developing the entrepreneurial skills of farmers: some myths explored. Int J Entrep Behav Res. 2006;12:21–39.
Rauch A, Wiklund J, Lumpkin GT, Frese M. Entrepreneurial orientation and business performance: an assessment of past research and suggestions for the future. Entrep Theory Pract. 2009;33(3):761–87.
Schumpeter JA. The theory of economic development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard; 1934.
Seuneke P, Lans T, Wiskerke JSC. Entrepreneurial learning in multifunctional agriculture. In: International conference on multifunctional agriculture and urban-rural relations ‘agriculture in an urbanising society’. Wageningen, The Netherlands (2012)
Shane S, Venkataraman S. The promise of enterpreneurship as a field of research. Acad Manage Rev. 2000;25(1):217–26.
van der Ploeg JD. Styles of farming: an introductory note on concepts and methodology. In: van der Ploeg JD, Long A, editors. Born from within: practice and perspectives of endogeneous rural development. Assen: Royal van Gorcum; 1994.
van der Ploeg JD, Long A, Banks J, editors. Living countrysides, rural development processes in Europe: the state of the art. Doetinchem: Elsevier; 2002.
Verhees FJHM, Kuipers A, Klopcic M. Entrepreneurial proclivity and farm performance: the cases of Dutch and Slovenian farmers. Int J Entrep Innov. 2011;12(3):169–77.
Verhees F, Lans T, Verstegen J. The influence of market- and entrepreneurial orientation on strategic marketing choices: the cases of Dutch farmers and horticultural growers. J Chain Network Sci (2012) (in press)
Vesala KM, Peura J, McElwee G. The split entrepreneurial identity of the farmer. J Small Bus Enterp Dev. 2007;14(1):48–63.
Westhead P, Ucbasaran D, Wright M, Binks M. Novice, serial and portfolio entrepreneur behaviour and contributions. Small Bus Econ. 2005;25:109–32.
Wiklund J, Shepherd D. Entrepreneurial orientation and small business performance: a configurational approach. J Bus Venturing. 2005;20(1):71–91.
Wilson GA. From ‘weak’ to ‘strong’ multifunctionality: conceptualising farm-level multifunctional transitional pathways. J Rural Stud. 2008;24(3):367–83.
Woo CY, Cooper AC, Dunkelberg WC. The development and interpretation of entrepreneurial typologies. J Bus Venturing. 1991;6(2):93–114.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Lans, T., Seuneke, P., Klerkx, L. (2013). Agricultural Entrepreneurship. In: Carayannis, E.G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3858-8_496
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3858-8_496
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-3857-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-3858-8
eBook Packages: Business and Economics