Conducive Environments and Entrepreneurial Access to Rural Policies

The objective of the paper is to provide an analysis of the role of supportive institutions in fostering entrepreneurial access to rural development policies (RDP) in Italy, namely dedicated measures for boosting farm investments. Access to RDP is considered the outcome of either the farmer’s individual disposal or a supportive environment mediated by actors conducive to rural entrepreneurship (ACRE). An empirical analysis has been carried out based on a survey of farms enrolled in the most important Italian farmers’ organization, Coldiretti. Quantitative analysis has been integrated through direct interviews with expert witnesses with the purpose of exploring how the farmer organization acts as a supportive institution and how permeability of farmers may differ on the one hand, on the basis of personal and business characteristics of the farm and on the other hand, in the institutional context of raising transaction costs in accessing RDP. The results confirm the fundamental role of ACRE in performing entrepreneurial access to RDP, but, at the same time, it calls for renewed tools to remove the barriers impeding access to RDP, above all for small-sized farms.