What determines the flexibility of farming systems? A case-study of the bovine farming sector in Belgium

This paper reports on a qualitative study into the factors that determine the flexibility of bovine farming systems. Flexibility is defined as the room for change, or the size of the choice set that remains available in the future. Using in-depth interviews in three stages, we identified several factors that leave the farmers with limited scope for change. These factors relate to the triumvirate government, agro-industry and research. A great deal of the work and activities of these three entities is embedded in a belief that the agricultural system is most benefitted by increasing productivity, maximum biological control and technological optimization. As a result, they shape an environment in which farming systems that are managed from this point of view are favored at the expense of flexible farming systems. The factors that reduce farm flexibility
relate to government regulations, the supply of advice and inputs from the agro-industry and the demand for output of the agro-industry as well as the knowledge produced by research stations and institutes.