Survival and development strategies in Norwegian family farming – Strategier for overlevelse og utvikling blant primærprodusenter

Why does family farming still exist? Why do many choose to farm when economic output fails, policy continuously changes and prospects for an improvement in the farming situation seem unlikely? Making a living is one side of it, maintaining traditions and values another. Structural perspectives have dominated traditional analysis of family farming. This doctoral project adds an actor sensitive perspective to the classical questions of the sociology of agriculture when it asks; how people in farming, who hold a diversity of backgrounds and engage in a variety of modes of production, challenge or adapt differently to new societal expectations of a social, environmental and economically sustainable agriculture. Gender perspectives are employed on these questions.