TY - JOUR

T1 - From climate worry to guest welcome

T2 - Agritourism as a diversification path for Kosovo's smallholder farmers

AU - Vargas López, Adrian

AU - Cena, Gjylisha

AU - Koessler, Ann-Kathrin

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s).

PY - 2026/3

Y1 - 2026/3

N2 - Small farms in Kosovo are facing hotter summers, longer dry seasons, and sudden storms that make yields and income less predictable. To cope, agricultural households are looking beyond basic crops and livestock and turning to agritourism, a commonly discussed adaptation option. In this paper, we pose three questions: How do farmers’ perceptions of changing weather relate to their interest in starting agritourism as a diversification strategy? What motives and conditions (economic goals, family considerations, available assets and access, etc.) shape willingness-to-start? How do farmers describe the link between diversification and perceived stress within this setting? We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews between 2023 and 2024 and analysed the transcripts with a hybrid deductive and inductive coding approach. Many participants attributed recent yield losses to changing weather, viewing agritourism as a “safer” income stream when the necessary roads, cabins, and family labour were available. The strongest motives to diversify were income security, keeping the farm in family hands, and experimenting with low-input, nature-friendly practices. Diversification reduced stress for some farmers, but new pressures emerged where infrastructure or marketing support was limited. Policy support may include small grants for basic facilities and signage, a shared booking platform, light-touch coaching on pricing and marketing, screening tools to match assets to options, and advisory support paired with simple stress-management resources.

AB - Small farms in Kosovo are facing hotter summers, longer dry seasons, and sudden storms that make yields and income less predictable. To cope, agricultural households are looking beyond basic crops and livestock and turning to agritourism, a commonly discussed adaptation option. In this paper, we pose three questions: How do farmers’ perceptions of changing weather relate to their interest in starting agritourism as a diversification strategy? What motives and conditions (economic goals, family considerations, available assets and access, etc.) shape willingness-to-start? How do farmers describe the link between diversification and perceived stress within this setting? We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews between 2023 and 2024 and analysed the transcripts with a hybrid deductive and inductive coding approach. Many participants attributed recent yield losses to changing weather, viewing agritourism as a “safer” income stream when the necessary roads, cabins, and family labour were available. The strongest motives to diversify were income security, keeping the farm in family hands, and experimenting with low-input, nature-friendly practices. Diversification reduced stress for some farmers, but new pressures emerged where infrastructure or marketing support was limited. Policy support may include small grants for basic facilities and signage, a shared booking platform, light-touch coaching on pricing and marketing, screening tools to match assets to options, and advisory support paired with simple stress-management resources.

KW - Climate change

KW - Agritourism

KW - Diversification

KW - Smallholder farmers

KW - Livelihood adaptation

KW - Qualitative methods

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105030967737&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104080

DO - 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104080

M3 - Article

VL - 123

JO - Journal of Rural Studies

JF - Journal of Rural Studies

SN - 0743-0167

M1 - 104080

ER -