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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the income sources of Italian farm tourism businesses, considering some economic, social and environmental variables that represent internal business factors and highlighting their contribution to the development of this income.

The empirical analysis is based on the Italian section of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) that includes 365 Italian farm tourism businesses. FADN is an instrument to assess the income of European agricultural holdings and the impacts of the Common Agricultural Policy. The analysis has been carried out through a Multivariate Regression Model.

The results of this paper have showed that some economic variables (food service, direct selling and public subsidies) determine an increase in farm income, whereas an increased number of family employees may have a negative impact on this income.

External factors, such as proximity to urban or cultural centres, may impact on agri-tourism income, but these are not considered in the statistical analyses. Another limit of this paper is the exclusion of tourists’ motivational variables and others mostly referring to the market (pricing policies, promotional strategies, etc.). Furthermore, this paper focuses on a specific country and this could reduce the generalization of its results.

Thanks to the selected regression drivers, farmers who offer tourism services could recognize a priori their entrepreneurial opportunities and understand the variables on which to focus to increase their income, which could be in turn strengthened by policies seeking to develop the endogenous potential.

Agri-tourism can fulfill various functions in the regional economy, with positive implications for the quality of life of rural societies.

On the European level, there is currently a lack of research studying the variables affecting agri-tourism revenue and entrepreneurial choice that mostly define profitability. This may be the first time that FADN data set has been utilized for researching farm tourism businesses in Europe.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships in alternative food networks (AFNs) between the purchase of food, the motivations of consumers and their socio-demographic profiles.

The study includes a total sample of 1,200 individual questionnaires, administered to the customers of 34 AFNs in different urban areas. The methodology employed is multilevel regression analysis, which is useful for dealing with data with a nested structure.

The results allowed us to depict some findings: the most important motivations in purchasing decisions are the perceived quality as well as comfort with the location of the markets, shopping experience, variety of offered products and delivery methods. Other interesting results relate to the presence of children in the families and the role of women in the choice of quality food.

The observations could represent a basis for thinking about how to improve consumers’ behaviour and, at the same time, try to remove the obstacles to a greater recognition of the importance of AFNs by consumers.

The paper contributes to the debate on food policies. Indeed, the integration of the results into food policies could help to intercept the consumers’ trends and promote a transition of the food system towards a path of sustainability, in which the AFNs are the organisational expression of a change that concerns a wide geography and a large number of social and economic actors.