Preliminary findings in Italian farms part of FADN dataset by the PLS-SEM

Nicola Galluzzo

Abstract: In Italy there has been a significant decrease of farms with the consequence to marginalize rural areas. By some financial subsidies allocated throughout the Common Agricultural Policy there has been a partial reduction of socio-economic marginalization in Italian rural territories. The purpose of this research was to assess by a quantitative approach which variables have acted on the rurality, management of farms and features of different unit of production since 2005 to 2015 using the dataset published in the Farm Accountancy Data Network. Findings have pointed out the positive role of the specialization of farms in terms of cultivated areas and financial subsidies allocated by the European Union throughout the Common Agricultural Policy and the Rural Development Plan. The Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) has been useful in assessing the cause-effect relationships in different constructs or rather among all investigated variables and indicators. PLS-SEM has not been widely used in investigating some index of rurality and relationships among indicators and variables corroborating the pivotal role of this quantitive approach in estimating cause-effect relationships in a small sample of farms.

Keywords: Common Agricultural Policy; financial subsidies; LFA payments; rural areas; rural development; structural equation model

Date published: 2018-12-28