The Motivations and Barriers related to Entrepreneurs in the Farming Sector: The Case of Ontario

Abstract

Ontario, one of Canada’s largest provinces, is a strong agricultural producer and plays an important role in Ontario's economy regarding job creation and GDP. It is therefore essential to better understand how Ontario’s farmers' businesses are created and developed in order to render the economy more resilient. This research attempted to identify Ontarian farmers' entrepreneurs’ motives for self-employment and which obstacles they identified as major business threats. In that perspective, a questionnaire derived from the literature was administered to a sample of 60 Ontarian farmer-entrepreneurs. Results revealed that the farmers entrepreneurs in Ontario were primarily motivated by independent goals, by opposition to extrinsic goals such as a desire to increase sales and profits. At the same time, the lack of reliable personnel and government bureaucracy were perceived as major barriers to entrepreneurial success.