The Role of Household Factors in Direct Selling of Farm Produce in France

The last ten years have witnessed a crisis in European agriculture and most farmers have re‐evaluated their farming strategies. This re‐evaluation has taken place within an internal and external farm environment. Traditionally, the key factors within this environment were seen to be economic ones related to the Common Agricultural Policy. In contrast a growing number of research studies have revealed that farm household factors, like age, family lifecycle and family background may be just as important in decision‐making. This paper reports on research that examined a number of household factors, which the literature had indicated might be important in distinguishing those French farms that participate in direct selling of farm produce, as an alternative farming strategy. Generally, it was found that background and education were of paramount importance, followed by attitudes to profits, suggesting the need for a less economically dominated approach to examining farm decision‐making behaviour.