Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19.

Zsófia Benedek,Cristina Bianca Pocol,Pâmela Mossmann De Aguiar,Lukáš Čechura,Imre Fertő,Piia Pääso,Cristina Galamba Marreiros,Anne Põder,Zoltán Bakucs,Arkadiusz Piwowar

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0251715

Abstract

This paper explores to what extent product and marketing channel diversification contributed to the economic success of small-scale agricultural producers involved in short food supply chains after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was conducted between April and July 2020 in four countries of the European Union-Estonia, Hungary, Portugal and Romania,-resulting in a relatively large sample of farmers (N = 421). The analysis was built on a semi-nonparametric approach. Approximately 19 percent of small-scale producers were able to increase sales during the first wave of the pandemic, although country-level variation was significant. Fruits and vegetables were by far the most popular products. The importance of specific channels varied across countries, but farm gate sales were among the most important marketing channels both before and during the first wave. The importance of channels that were based on digital resources and home delivery increased. Our evidence indicates that diversification was a strategy that paid off, both in terms of marketing channels and different product categories. However, the impact appears to be nonlinear; the initial advantage generated by diversification rapidly tapered off, either temporarily (in the case of products), or permanently (in the case of marketing channels). Later research may clarify whether these findings are generalizable in other socio-economic contexts, as well as in a non-COVID situation.

Highlights

The outbreak of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused extraordinary disruption to the global food distribution system [1,2,3]
In this paper we focused on small-scale farmers who participated in a number of short food supply chains (SFSCs) in four European countries (Estonia, Hungary, Portugal and Romania) to better understand how the level of diversification, both in terms of production and marketing channels, contributed to their success during the first wave of COVID
The first wave of the COVID-19 crisis hit these economies differently, prompting responses ranging from relatively mild restrictions (e.g. Hungary) to very strict ones (e.g. Portugal)

Summary

Introduction

The outbreak of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused extraordinary disruption to the global food distribution system [1,2,3]. In this paper we focused on small-scale farmers who participated in a number of short food supply chains (SFSCs) in four European countries (Estonia, Hungary, Portugal and Romania) to better understand how the level of diversification, both in terms of production and marketing channels, contributed to their success during the first wave of COVID. In our study we followed the approach of Gruchmann et al [18] and Schmutz et al [17], mainly focusing on producer-consumer interactions involving producers directly selling their products to consumers, or through a limited number (ideally, zero) of intermediaries The reason for this choice is methodological: the flow of products through marketing channels may be tracked more accurately this way than when a specific (and highly arbitrary) geographical range is defined. No prior assumptions were made in relation to the analysis; the level of diversification among small-scale farms was assumed to be heterogeneous

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Conclusions