Theme 5 – Sustainable agrifood systems, value chains and power structures 13 th European IFSA Symposium, 1-5 July 2018, Chania (Greece) 1 Resilience of smallholder farmers: a SWOT analysis in rural Italy Rafaela Reznik Rocha Institute of Systems Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research, University of Graz, Austria rafaela.reznik-rocha@edu.uni-graz.at Abstract: Smallholder farmers play an important role in the context of rural development which is directly related to poverty and hunger reduction. Nowadays, the increasing influence of modern wholesale markets and retailers generates a shift from short local food chains to long and complex ones. In this manner, internationalization of products and services along with economies of scales are incorporated to farm practices. To keep up with such demanding flow, small and medium sized ventures urge to adapt their methods of food production, processing, distribution and sales, presenting a strong resilience towards the maintenance of their rural activities by bringing up several strategies. This research selects the Garfagnana Valley, located in the Tuscany region in Italy, as a case study to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) which influence smallholder farmers’ decisions upon rural development practices. The findings reveal a balanced SWOT analysis, determining the main factors which shape smallholders’ actions, seeking application for further studies and policy advancements. Keywords: agrifood systems; Italy; rural resilience; smallholder farmers, SWOT analysis Introduction Smallholder farmers constantly depend on their agricultural produce to maintain, by some degree, their own consumption (Saravia-Matus et al., 2012). To reach the nutritional status considered adequate for a healthy life, all households should have enough access and availability to sufficient, safe and nutritious food (FAO, 1996). However, food security is not a reality for many small scale producers in the world (Saravia-Matus et al., 2012). The bulk of poor and food-insecure people in Earth remains in rural areas, where agriculture and animal breeding are major sources of livelihood. After a dull decline, global hunger seems to increase again, since chronically undernourished population reached over 800 million in 2016 up from around 770 million in 2015, mostly belonging to the rural sector (FAO et al., 2017). Thus, poverty and hunger reduction are directly linked with rural development, and smallholder farmers play an important role in this context. The world trend of increasing importance of modern wholesale markets and retailers influences the shift from short and fragmented local food chains to long and complex ones. This regularly involves internationalization along with an increase in scales of farms productivity (Reardon et al., 2012). To keep up with such demanding flow, the ordinary players, usually small and medium sized ventures, need to remodel and adapt their methods of food production, processing, distribution and sales (IFAD, 2016). Furthermore, the rise of consumers’ demand for higher standards of food quality and safety (Trienekens and Zuurbier, 2008; Aung and Chang, 2014) entails bigger commitment of rural enterprises to certification schemes. Most small scale farms are partially omitted from the agrifood market system since their engagement towards trading opportunities largely depend on affordable transaction costs (Saravia-Matus et al., 2012), whereas big and traditional producers are easier maintained by economies of scale, advance of modern techniques and favorable