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Abstract: This study examined the motives underlying decisions by farmers to start new ventures outside conventional agriculture and assessed the importance of the farm family situation in formulating these motives. The study was based on quantitative data obtained from 309 Swedish farmers who self-reported that they ran other ventures in addition to their agricultural production enterprises. Factor analysis revealed a structure with two underlying motives for starting a venture outside conventional agriculture, namely ‘business development for reasons to reduce risk and to use idle resources’ and ‘business development for social and lifestyle reasons’. The factor scores obtained were related to measures of involvement of the farmer's spouse in planning and managing the new venture and the importance of family considerations at a more general level. The results showed that the motives for starting new ventures were dependent on the situation of the farm family, but that the two groups of indicators identified influenced these motives in opposite ways. These findings are of obvious interest for rural development policy makers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We use the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to explain how underlying psychological constructs influence farmers' decisions to extend their farm businesses to income-generating ventures outside conventional agricultural production. The analysis contrasts the influence of psychological constructs on this decision with those on decisions to specialise in a single farm enterprise or to have multiple farm enterprises. This is one of the first studies to introduce psychological constructs into the study of farm diversification. It is based on a sample of 929 Swedish farms participating in the official Swedish Farm Economic Survey. These data are supplemented with a detailed postal questionnaire to the participating farmers, generating a response rate of 73% and an effective sample size of 679 farmers and their businesses. Data are analysed with factor and multinomial logistic regression analyses. Results show that psychological constructs in TPB (attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control) influence farmers' decisions regarding the strategy they adopt. Attitude and subjective norm are found to be especially influential in these decisions. Given the prominent role agriculture still has in rural development policy, where the development of new ventures in farm businesses is perceived as the engine for rural economic growth and employment, these findings have clear policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]