A choice model-based analysis of diversification in organic and conventional farms

Diversification is a polymorphic strategy to increase agricultural income and reduce the risks deriving from the surrounding environment. This strategy can also be successfully adopted in the context of organic farming. However, there is a lack of con-firmation in this regard given the scarcity of studies that explicitly focus on diversifica-tion in organic farms. The objective of this paper is to analyse the influence of some territorial, socio-economic, and political factors on the probability of diversifying in both organic and conventional farms. To this aim, multinomial and binary logit mod-els are applied to the Italian case. Results suggest that on-farm diversification requires specific competences and adequate organization. However, the reasons for diversifying differ depending on the production model. In conventional farming, farmers diversi-fy to achieve income levels comparable with those of a more competitive agriculture. Conversely, for organic farmers, diversification represents an integrated part of the pro-duction model to take advantage of synergies between organic production and diversi-fication. From these results, some policy implications are drawn.