Resilience during the pandemic: the case of family-run farms

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine which coping strategies family-run farms adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether they showed resilience to the challenges posed by the market. Data were collected using the method of semi-structured interviews on a deliberate sample of family-run farms, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The results reveal the COVID-19 crisis and new regulations forced farmers to change their modes of operation. The results also showed that they achieved resilience by maintaining market competitiveness through diversification and multifunctionality. The limitations of this research include a small and deliberate sample, so the results do not allow for a wider generalization. However, generalization is valid at the analytical level at which a set of strategies needed by the family-run farms to remain resilient during a pandemic have been recorded. Additional contribution of this research is the rarely explored farmers’ perspective, as well as the relevance of examining the changes in family-run farms’ activities during the pandemic, which can serve as a model of building family farms’ resilience in general.