The paper’s objective is to draw and verify a model of entering farming which integrates both psychological and economic factors. It is argued why first identity related factors (like a preference for working with animals) and later environment-related factors (like the farm’s income potential) will typically dominate the process of decision-making. The model is validated by a dataset from a survey among potential farm successors. It can partly be confirmed. It also becomes obvious that daughters have a more negative attitude towards farm succession compared with sons and seem to rely on identity-related factors only.
