From production-oriented farming towards multifunctional entrepreneurship : exploring the underlying learning process

This thesis unravels the learning process underlying the switch from conventional production-oriented farming towards ‘multifunctional entrepreneurship’. In other words: the process by which former production-oriented farmers (men, women and their families) re-invent themselves as ‘multifunctional entrepreneurs’ and gain the necessary knowledge, skills and networks to re-develop their existing farm as a multifunctional one with the integration of new non-farming activities such as agro-tourism, nature and landscape management, processing and selling of farm products, professional (child)care and on-farm education. Apart from its contribution to theory with regard to the development of multifunctionality and multifunctional entrepreneurship, this thesis ultimately supports practitioners (such as teachers, trainers, advisers) in fostering this, for today’s and tomorrow’s agriculture and rural areas, valuable form of agricultural entrepreneurship.