STÓREntrepreneurship and agriculture : investigating if entrepreneurship can be encouraged throughout the argicultural sector and assessing the provisions in place to ignite itHelenNeasyauthorThe agriculture sector has been subjected to several changes over the last four decades. Since the beginning of the 1960's, the numbers employed in agriculture have been rapidly declining along with total exports. Several new trends have emerged. The National Farm Survey (2007) highlighted that the income derived from farming is no longer adequate to maintain a comfortable standard of living. The ERSI (2008) painted a harsh reality of the livelihood of agriculture in Ireland, suggesting that it will continue on a downward trend without hope of recovery. In light of this, it has been widely suggested that the integration of entrepreneurship will greatly contribute to the re-vitalisation of the agriculture sector and thus, create a competitive advantage for Ireland. The key objective of this dissertation was primarily to assess whether or not members of the local farming community would consider starting an on-site business enterprise as a suitable way to increase the family income. A questionnaire was conducted in order to gain a satisfactory response to this question. In addition, a total of seven interviews were also executed. Three of which were conducted with support bodies including Enterprise-Ireland, Bord Bia and Teagasc, in a bid to assess the training, advisory and funding provisions in place for aspiring entrepreneurs.Business2008Dundalk Institute of Technology;Business and HumanitiesThesis

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