Agricultural Entrepreneurship: The Concept and Evidence

Abstract

Although the French physiocrats of the 18th century associated entrepreneurship with agriculture, in later years the term gradually assumed a primarily industrial connotation. Today it is rarely used to refer to an agricultural activity. Pleading that the attributes required by successful farmers, particularly those producing cash crops, are in many ways similar to those commonly associated with industrial entrepreneurs, the authors of this paper discuss the case of a group of cotton growers in Andhra Pradesh to emphasise how the lack of relevant entrepreneurial capabilities can lead an ostensibly successful agricultural operation to tragic failure.