Journal of Entrepreneurial Strategies in Agriculture

Extended Abstract
Introduction and Objective: Villages play an undeniable role in economic, socio-political growth in the social and demographic system of countries and agriculture as a strategy for rural development includes most of the economic activities of villagers. Currently, the phenomenon of sustainable employment in rural communities is more important than before because sustainable job development among villagers is an important strategy that can improve the rural development process. Therefore, only by increasing employment in rural areas can the phenomenon of migration be prevented because agricultural resources alone will not meet their needs. The depopulation of villages can be a major threat to the food security of the community. In this way the aim of this study was to design sustainable employment mechanisms among tobacco farmers.
Material and Methods: In this study, the qualitative paradigm and grounded theory of the foundation were used to identify the mechanisms of sustainable employment. Participants in this study included 18 tobacco farmers with more than 10 years of experience in Dashtestan. The samples were selected using snowball sampling method and the criterion for the number of subjects was theoretical saturation. The method of collecting information extracted from the interview participants was semi-structured.
Result: The results of the collected data revealed 48 main challenges among tobacco farmers. Factors of lack of support and purchase of the product at a reasonable price by the city tobacco department, the occurrence of numerous pests, lack of support for domestic production and increase in imports, lack of government support for the agricultural sector, high cost of buying agricultural inputs in the open market and brokers are the most important problems. He was a tobacconist. Factors extracted in 7 economic and support mechanisms (13 factors), agriculture and environment (9 factors), marketing (9 factors), industrialization (4 factors), education and skills (3 factors), policy (6 factors) and motivational (4 factors) were categorized and analyzed. Finally, the mechanisms were placed in the form of Strauss and Corbin models based on their nature.
Conclusion: In general, the results of this research can provide new insights for rural and agricultural development policy makers because all issues and problems of tobacco workers' employment have been identified and with careful planning can help to stabilize them. In this regard, it is suggested that by holding training courses and workshops, they provide the ground for the development of cultivation of this crop among farmers based on scientific and precise principles.

Extended Abstract
Introduction and Objective: Innovation is one of the factors that drive economic growth and production by improving labor productivity, dynamics in industries, and determining economic success. Science and Technological Parks play an important role in the technological development of a country by significantly increasing economic growth. So, knowledge-based companies are known as one of the main factors for accelerating production and achieving economic resilience goals.
Material and Methods: In this study, knowledge-based and agricultural companies located in the Center for Agricultural Technology Development, Natural Resources and Food Industries and Technology Development Center of Gonabad, Neishabour, and Torbat-e Heydarieh have been studied. The method of data collection in this research was by census method and through a questionnaire. The required data of 5 companies were collected via email, 3 companies were collected via telegram, and 39 questionnaires were completed through face-to-face distribution. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis. The software used in this study was Excel and Stata.
Results: Based on the obtained results, factors such as financial support and business advice were the most important requirements for knowledge-based companies. Also, the most important weaknesses in institutional sectors were lack of financial resources in the financial sector, inability to introduce the product and international marketing in the marketing sector, and lack of proper and timely execution of upstream documents were among the weaknesses in the institutional sector. In contrast, personal capital and product innovation were among the strengths of knowledge-based companies and agricultural technology. Furthermore, the most important threats for these companies were price fluctuations, uncertainty due to foreign currency policies, low level or nonawareness of legal regulations, and long-term process to obtain official permissions. Also, the exclusivity of the product was declared the most important opportunity for companies. The priority of these companies was related to future strategies, export, and focus on foreign markets and attracting investors.
Conclusion: Finally, it is suggested that due to the low efficiency of knowledge-based companies in terms of job creation, the following should be on the agenda: effective entry of universities in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation, drafting an innovation system document, and directing research activities towards knowledge foundations in universities. Also, to increase the employment of agricultural graduates, it is suggested that arrangements be made so that the employment of these people in knowledge-based companies will lead to the establishment of facilities such as providing free insurance coverage for these companies. Knowledge-based companies and agricultural technology need a management-consulting package in the field of marketing and marketing of products, legal and financial products in order to have a stronger presence in the existing space in domestic markets and in the international market.

Extended Abstract
Introduction and Objective: Agribusinesses that follow conventional approach, due to overuse of off-farm inputs threaten ecosystem services, environmental health and human life. Insisting on the continuation of these type of businesses will threaten the sustainable livelihoods of the rural population, as well as the lives and health of consumers. Therefore, to deal with these threats, the creation and development of organic production businesses is an inevitable necessity.The present study sought to first identify and prioritize the challenges of creating and developing organic wheat production business and then introduce appropriate solutions to remove these obstacles and challenges.
Material and Methods: The present study used the Delphi technique to identify and prioritize the barriers and solutions of the creation and development of organic wheat production business. Using snowball sampling, 21 Agriculture-Jahad specialists of Markazi province were selected to participate in two rounds of Delphi technique. The data from the semi-structured interview of the first round were coded using the content analysis and then were compiled as a Likert scale and again provided to the experts for scoring. The coefficient of variation was used to end the Delphi technique and the normalized weight index was used to prioritize the variables.
Results: The results revealed that lack of initial capital, lack of government support for organic wheat production due to the dominance of self-sufficiency policy, improper marketing, insufficient knowledge and skills and low motivation along with long period of transition and lack of insurance coverageas were the most important challenges respectively and the formation of a wheat growers’ cooperative, the payment of low-interest facilities, training and extension, crop insurance and guaranteed purchase along with supplying inputs were the most important solutions respectively.
Conclusion: In short, in this study an economic challenge i.e. insufficient initial capital has been introduced as the first and most important obstacle for creating and developing the organic wheat production business and a policy issue i.e., lack of government support for organic wheat production due to the dominance of self-sufficiency policy has been introduced as the second important obstacle. Other challenges, namely marketing, cognitive and psychological problems, are overshadowed by these two challenges and are in the next ranks. The interesting thing is that given the challenges, a social action, i.e., organizing wheat farmers in the form of a production cooperative, has been introduced as the first and most important solution to address the challenges and reduce their adverse effects. So that other measures such as payment of facilities, holding training and extension courses, insurance, guaranteed purchase of the products and supply of inputs within it and through it will be facilitated, accelerated and implemented.