Cluster of opportunities and development of entrepreneurial skills in modern rural areas

The recent reforms of the policies for rural development lead farms towards more entrepreneurial models and, at the same time, competitive and sustainable. New European agricultural model is based on high added value activities, with the production of quality goods according to “agronomically sound and sustainable agricultural systems as vital to guaranteeing competitiveness on local, regional and international markets”. In this regulatory framework, the multifunctional agriculture can generate processes of boundary shift oriented towards differentiation and diversification strategies. According to McElwee e Bosworth (2010), to trigger business models are necessary: competition by quality, product and service innovation, market governance (niche markets and alternative food network). These variables generate opportunity clusters that can promote business development mechanisms, even in marginal rural areas if exploited properly. The present work aims to analyse the role of human family capital, according the family farm business unit, in order to produce entrepreneurial attitude. The survey seeks to relate the family dimension, the typological dimension of the farm and the maximum degree of study within the family, aimed at verifying the influence of the family educational qualification in strategic business processes.