Perceived room for manoeuvre of farmers in a situationof limiting growth possibillities: The case of Kampereiland

The relation between farm development and its direct surroundings is of renewed interest. Growing urbanization and changes in societal demands increase the need for farmers to integrate developments in their direct surroundings in farm development. Especially in densely populated regions with a high natural or cultural-historical value, farmers are challenged to integrate changes in the biophysical and societal environment in farm strategy. Opportunities for farm development may be outside the traditional growth strategy making opportunity identification more challenging. Regional development programs aim at supporting farmers in opportunity identification as farm development is crucial in reaching regional goals. Better understanding of opportunity identification by farmers in relation to their direct surroundings may help to better support farmers. This study focuses on the perceived room for manoeuvre of farmers defined as the number of options he perceives as viable to generate income on his farm. Based upon an analytical framework, a questionnaire was designed focusing on the topics of perceived room for manoeuvre, network and experience, household and the perception of market developments, technical developments, rural-urban relations and 3 competences linked to entrepreneurship (networking, analyzing and pursuing). The questionnaire was send to farmers in the context of case study Kampereiland, a designated area of 4200 ha agricultural land owned by the local municipality with 108 (dairy) tenant farmers. 78 farmers responded to the questionnaire. The first results will be presented and discussed at the conference. Correlation analysis and factor analysis will be conducted on the data and in-depth interviews are used to clarify relations found. The focus of the research question is on the factors most influencing the perceived room for manoeuvre of farm development as constructed by farmers. The room for manoeuvre of farmers as perceived by third party persons will be the next focus of the research followed by research on the effectiveness of methods supporting strategy development of farmers in changing biophysical and societal surroundings