The role of farmers: governing the farm enterprise, markets, and networks

Being a farmer is far more complex than we often consider. The job includes the capacity to organise and combine factors of production (land, capital and especially labour) and simultaneously meet the needs of consumers and many other things. To do so, the farmer has to face, time and again, strategic choices related to the “make or buy” decision that concern, and materially affect, the boundaries of the farm’s operations. This article argues that agency and networking are crucial concepts in the analysis of such choices. These two concepts are also at the heart of rural studies. Here the focus will be on agency as strategic in the active organisation, combination and development of factors of production. In turn networking is central in the construction of (new) markets and other solutions to day to day or strategic problems. This article will use the experience of nested markets, as seen through the neo-institutional approach with a focus on transaction costs, to highlight that strategically organising production factors is central to being a farmer. It is a capacity that needs to be developed and strengthened rather than replaced and/or externalized. This applies especially when farmers seek to realign themselves with the needs of the environment and society.