Young farmers in agriculture: Synthesis of resilience factors to empirical gaps and new conceptual integration design (literature review)

Аннотация

Background. The agricultural sector is experiencing a gradual decline in youth participation at a time when farming systems are confronted with climate risks, market volatility, and accelerating technological shifts. This situation elevates the importance of understanding and strengthening the resilience of young farmers as a key component of sustainable agricultural development.

Purpose. This study aims to review and integrate existing research published between 2015 and 2025 in order to identify major research trends, determine the principal internal and external drivers influencing youth farmer resilience, examine their interconnections, and develop an integrated conceptual framework explaining how young farmers maintain resilience within a rapidly evolving agricultural environment.

Materials and methods. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach was applied following the PRISMA protocol to ensure transparency and methodological rigor. The review analyzed peer-reviewed national and international publications indexed in SINTA and Scopus databases during the period 2015–2025. The synthesis of these studies indicates that the resilience of young farmers is shaped through the interaction of three key dimensions: personal readiness (motivation, self-efficacy, entrepreneurial competence, and digital literacy), social readiness (family support, farmer networks, and institutional policies), and environmental adaptation (responses to climate change and technological developments).

Results. Analysis of 54 selected articles demonstrates a clear evolution in the scholarly discussion of young farmer resilience. Early studies (2015–2017) primarily examined youth participation and structural barriers such as limited land access and unstable income. Between 2018 and 2020, research increasingly emphasized agripreneurship and adaptive capacity, presenting young farmers as active agents responding to market and environmental uncertainty. Since 2021, studies have adopted more integrative perspectives, linking resilience with digital agriculture, climate-smart farming, and broader sustainability transitions, often supported by advanced analytical methods including structural equation modelling and bibliometric analysis. Despite the global growth of this research area, empirical studies from Indonesia remain relatively limited within international knowledge networks.

Thematic analysis further identifies three interconnected dimensions shaping young farmers’ resilience: personal readiness, social readiness, and environmental adaptation. Personal readiness relates to motivation, self-efficacy, entrepreneurial capacity, and digital competence that enable young farmers to remain engaged in agricultural activities. Social readiness refers to supportive relationships and institutional environments, including family encouragement, farmer organizations, and government policies that help mitigate social and economic risks. Environmental adaptation reflects the ability to respond effectively to climate variability, market dynamics, and technological innovation through the adoption of new knowledge and tools.

Nevertheless, the literature still reveals several conceptual and methodological limitations. Many studies address only one or two aspects of resilience rather than examining the phenomenon in an integrated manner. Quantitative methods dominate the field, whereas mixed-methods approaches remain relatively underutilized. Additional research gaps include the limited use of longitudinal studies, insufficient integration of social, ecological, and digital perspectives, weak application of spatial or big-data approaches, and limited attention to gender equity and local wisdom systems, particularly in the Indonesian context.

Overall, these findings indicate that young farmers’ resilience should be understood as a dynamic and systemic process influenced by multiple interacting factors. More comprehensive and context-sensitive analytical frameworks are therefore needed to better explain and strengthen the resilience of young farmers in contemporary agricultural systems.