ROLE OF LEARNING IN BUILDING RESILIENCE OF SMALL-MIXED FARMING SYSTEM - A ROMANIAN CASE STUDY

Abstract

Paper aim was to identify the factors who enable or hinder adaptive capacity and the strategies that promote learning at the level of small-mixed farms from Nord-Est region in Romania. A qualitative approach was used to better understand the complexity of individual decision-making and the lived experience of farmers as they adapt to the challenges they face at farm level.  Specifically, these insights involving a series of ‘storytelling’ interviews with Nord-Est region’ farmers that had different personal learning experiences. The study shows that family members are the most influential on decision-making, followed by the agronomist, researcher and university professors. The influence of local farmers either increases through partnerships or decreases because of conflicts. Being open to new ideas is the main driver for learning that generates change at the farm level, alongside their attitude towards risk. Experimenting with new ideas was an important learning strategy, allowing farmers to learn from their own experience and by implementing change a little at a time. However, a barrier to learning is a lack of confidence in market stability, uncertainty about succession and attachment to a traditional way of farming in the area which is based on semi-subsistence (rather than developing into a market-oriented business).