Transition from production to lifestyle farming: new management arrangements in Portuguese small farms.

Abstract

In many rural landscapes of Europe, there is a transition taking place from the predominance of agriculture towards a much more diverse combination of different activities and consumption interests. In Mediterranean Europe, new combinations in management strategies are emerging, as the case study in Southern Portugal shows. Transition theory has been used to analyse how new smallholders’ profiles lead to the emergence of a niche. This niche is characterised by the emergence of new management arrangements in small-scale farms that are in danger of being driven out of production. Due to these new processes of transition, the pattern and character of the Mediterranean small farms mosaic landscape is maintained. This paper shows that for the new smallholders, farming is an important part of their activities. The paper also shows that by failing to recognise new types of farmers and their potential for innovation, the agricultural regime is missing an opportunity to reactivate the linkage between agriculture and social representations of the rural in a way that would suit the rural development paradigms of today.