Understanding how farmers perceive and manage critical decision points in response to challenges and opportunities can help to develop effective support for resilient European farming systems. Individual narratives of farm stories provide insight into important management changes over time and the context in which they were made. We analyse 46 personal narratives from family farms across a range of farming systems in five European countries and use comparative thematic analysis to identify these change drivers and responses to them. Pressures within the family and the farming business (caused by health problems or intergenerational transition) were more important to narrators than external drivers such as extreme weather events and price fluctuations. The latter, perceived as outside the control of the farmer, were regarded as background noise requiring no significant business changes. While different resilience responses (robustness, adaptation, and transformation) were revealed, these categories were fluid depending on individual capacities, farm resources and the overall setting. Farms could appear robust but, over time, small changes in management could cumulate to adapt or even transform the management and scope of the business. Policy-related conclusions include a need for more flexible, tailored farm support and more coherent long-term strategies to manage intergenerational transition on farms.

了解农民如何看待和管理关键决策点以应对挑战和机遇，有助于为具有弹性的欧洲农业系统提供有效支持。农场故事的个人叙述提供了对随着时间的推移的重要管理变化及其发生背景的洞察力。我们分析了来自五个欧洲国家一系列农业系统的家庭农场的 46 个个人叙述，并使用比较主题分析来确定这些变化驱动因素和对它们的反应。对于叙述者来说，家庭和农业企业内部的压力（由健康问题或代际过渡引起）比极端天气事件和价格波动等外部驱动因素更为重要。后者被认为不受农民控制，被视为不需要重大业务变化的背景噪音。虽然揭示了不同的复原力响应（稳健性、适应性和转型），但这些类别是可变的，具体取决于个人能力、农场资源和整体环境。农场可能看起来很健壮，但随着时间的推移，管理的微小变化可能会累积以适应甚至改变业务的管理和范围。与政策相关的结论包括需要更灵活、量身定制的农场支持和更一致的长期战略来管理农场的代际过渡。农场可能看起来很健壮，但随着时间的推移，管理的微小变化可能会累积以适应甚至改变业务的管理和范围。与政策相关的结论包括需要更灵活、量身定制的农场支持和更一致的长期战略来管理农场的代际过渡。农场可能看起来很健壮，但随着时间的推移，管理的微小变化可能会累积以适应甚至改变业务的管理和范围。与政策相关的结论包括需要更灵活、量身定制的农场支持和更一致的长期战略来管理农场的代际过渡。