Producer and farm characteristics, type of product, location: Determinants of on-farm and off-farm direct sales by farmers

Direct sales are a widespread and important typology of the so-called alternative food networks. They can take two basic forms: consumers going to buy agricultural products at the farm (on-farm sales) and farmers selling their products in urban areas. We investigate the territorial distribution of direct sales practices (on-farm and off-farm) in Piedmont (Italy) and we assess the main determinants of these choices via probit models, separately for on-farm and off-farm sales. The explanatory variables comprise structural characteristics of the farms, type of farming, characteristics of the operators and of their products, and the proximity to urban and commercial areas. The most important factor affecting these choices is the type of farming (TF). The effect of other variables differs according to the TF. Conditional on it, other significant variables are generally farm location, organic farming and, especially for on-farm direct sales, the complementarity with agro-tourism and recreational activities. Operators’ and farm characteristics are found to affect the choice of selling directly rather weakly.