ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATIONS IN THE AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY IN ITALY

Abstract

With the expansion in firms offering mainly machinery services, agricultural contracting has taken on considerable importance, involving more than a million farms, more than one third of the total in Italy. The firms "Contoterziste" supply a variety of services such as cultivation and harvesting. The presence of these firms grants to the agricultural firms a high degree of flexibility by reducing the amount of financial resources invested. Their activity now figures as a typical response by Italian agricultural into structural rigidities. Agricultural contracting enables firms to externalize certain costs and various stages of the production process. It also provides a wider range of choice for the farmer, by increasing the degree of flexibility and adaptation. Agricultural contractors can thus be seen as vectors of innovation, modernization and restructuring of Italian agriculture.