RESILIENCE DURING THE PANDEMIC: THE CASE OF FAMILY-RUN FARMS

ABSTRACT

The aim of this research was to determine which coping strategies family-run farms adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether they showed resilience to the challenges posed by the market. Data were collected using the method of semi-structured interviews on a deliberate sample of family-run farms, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The results reveal the COVID-19 crisis and new regulations forced farmers to change their modes of operation. The results also showed that they achieved resilience by maintai-ning market competitiveness through diversification and multifunctionality. The limitations of this research include a small and deliberate sample, so the results do not allow for a wider generalization. However, generalization is valid at the analytical level at which a set of strategies needed by the family-run farms to remain resilient during a pandemic have been recorded. Additional contribution of this research is the rarely explored farmers' perspective, as well as the relevance of examining the changes in family-run farms' activities during the pandemic, which can serve as a model of building family farms' resilience in general. © 2022, Croatian Sociological Association. All rights reserved.