Aging and succession on Italian farms

The survival and competitiveness of the agricultural sector is increasingly threatened by the aging process of farmers and farms. In this perspective, the European Union has launched a number of initiatives directed towards favoring the entry of a new generation of young entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector. However, the way in which this transition occurs, whether via intra-family succession or via market transactions, may also have an influence on the economic performance of farms. In this paper, we test the influence of the age of the person who manages the farm and of intra-familysuccession on the economic performance of Italian farms. Our results indicate that younger farmers overperform and that inherited farms tend to under-perform.