Factors affecting farm succession: the case of Slovenia
Slovenia, like other developed countries, is characterized by the fact that the number of farm takeovers is decreasing and farms are not being transferred to successors in a timely manner. As an EU member state, Slovenia is entitled to financial incentives intended to halt or at least ameliorate this trend, but the situation is nonetheless not improving. This article proceeds from the hypothesis that economic factors are not the only ones that affect succession on Slovenian farms. The hypothesis was confirmed in a study limited to mountain farms. It was determined that, although economic factors have a significant effect on succession on Slovenian farms, at the same time other factors also affect this. Among these, the factors that stand out the most are those through which tradition or traditional thought and behavioral patterns are expressed, as well as the factors that express the standpoints, perceptions, and opinions of farm owners.