Farm and Household Economics

The Farm and household economics group at AFBI undertake research focusing on the economics of farm businesses and households. This includes, farm level analyses of the economic and environmental impacts of agricultural and rural development programmes, estimation of optimal livestock production systems under different market and policy conditions and drivers of farm business productivity. Beyond this, our research explores opportunities and drivers for farm and rural entrpreneurship and diversification.  Research also focuses on the study of farm households in relation to levels of educational attainment and skill, barriers to new entrant farmers and the impact of consumer behavioural choices on agricultural production.

Current Projects

• Impact of RDP: Evaluation of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, Farm Business Improvement Scheme – Longitudinal Study (PMB1 RDP Study 1)
• The Future Agriculture Policy Framework: Identifying barriers to long term land leasing in Northern Ireland and exploring mechanism to   support and encourage long term land leasing
• Whole Farm Systems Modelling Projects 

Previous Projects

• Encouraging entrepreneurship, business innovation and diversification at the farm level
• Up-skilling within the Northern Ireland farming sector.  An assessment of the effectiveness of alternative models for delivering training and life-long learning within the Northern Ireland agriculture sector