Explaining direct sale as a prevailing marketing strategy: data from Tuscany farmers

In recent years a growing number of farmers has implemented alternative marketing strategies, based on the internalisation of value chain segments. Such tendency is driven by the low level of prices paid by retailers, the pressure to diversify marketing strategies to reduce risk exposure and the change of consumer’s preference towards short chain or local products demand. The present paper aims at investigating determinants of adoption of farmers’ direct selling strat­egy. We investigate Tuscany farmers using data collected during the 2010 census. A double hurdle model allows to estimate adoption of direct selling as a two steps model: firstly identifying the determinants of the adoption of a direct selling strategy and then the determinants of the share of farmers’ production sold directly to consumers, among all other commercialisation forms. Preliminary results shows that motivation and skills are main determinants of direct sale as well as the closeness to urban areas, confirming demand driven effects.