Business diversification represents an ongoing process which is being progressively adopted by small-medium farms, especially in disadvantaged, rural and mountainous areas. As such it may represent a tool for their development, as long as farmers are able to exploit its potential and find proper organizational solutions that best fit their farm features.
In this article, a stratified sample of diversifying farms is analysed in order to provide some evidence on the influence of diversification on role organization among all the on-farm ‘active’ subjects and on the working time allocation within different activities, depending on farm type, economic size and type of diversification pathways undertaken. Moreover, the comparison between the proportion of time engaged in alternative activities and that of the relative returns deriving from them allows to understand the efficiency of this strategy. The final aim is the comprehension of the extent to which the diversification ratio is making its way in the farmers’ business conceptions and the individuation of obstacles and stimula preventing or promoting the further development of this option.
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