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Success of urban farming’s city-adjustments and business models—Findings from a survey among farmers in Ruhr Metropolis, Germany

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  • Pölling, Bernd
  • Sroka, Wojciech
  • Mergenthaler, Marcus

Abstract

Economic data of urban farming are scarce, while the discourse on urban farming’s business models is progressively emerging since few years. Data of a web survey among farm managers in polycentric Ruhr Metropolis, Germany, is used here to address the research question whether city-adjusted farms are more successful than non-city-adjusted farms. Farms’ common city-adjustment strategies high-value production, direct marketing, participative concepts, and tourism services as well as the spatial self-assessment of the farm managers are applied to cluster and analyse them. The 180 farms are clustered via a Complete Linkage cluster analysis into five groups, whereof three are city-adjusted clusters and two are non-city-adjusted clusters. City-adjusted farms are more successful than non-city-adjusted ones. Compared to their counterpart, city-adjusted farms name better economic farm situations, predict more positive farm prospects and more assured farm successions. Additionally, they appoint more Unique Selling Propositions for their farms and make use of agricultural extension services more often. Farm business declines and farm closures are predicted very little by the city-adjusted farms, which fit to the prevalence of named urban advantages over disadvantages. These findings contribute to the lack of reliable data used to orientate policy on agriculture and food within wider metropolitan areas and urban environments.

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  • Pölling, Bernd & Sroka, Wojciech & Mergenthaler, Marcus, 2017. "Success of urban farming’s city-adjustments and business models—Findings from a survey among farmers in Ruhr Metropolis, Germany," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 372-385.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:69:y:2017:i:c:p:372-385
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.09.034
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    2. Wojciech Sroka & Piotr Sulewski & Jaroslaw Mikolajczyk & Karol Król, 2023. "Farming under Urban Pressure: Business Models and Success Factors of Peri-Urban Farms," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-23, June.
    3. Wojciech Sroka & Dariusz Żmija, 2021. "Farming Systems Changes in the Urban Shadow: A Mixed Approach Based on Statistical Analysis and Expert Surveys," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-29, May.
    4. Wiśniewska-Paluszak, J. & Paluszak, G. & Fiore, M. & Coticchio, A. & Galati, A. & Lira, J., 2023. "Urban agriculture business models and value propositions: Mixed methods approach based on evidence from Polish and Italian case studies," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

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