Rеgarding the application of cooperative approaches to small farms in rural areas of Bulgaria

The paper tries to justify the need for implementation of cooperative and integrative approaches in the activity of small and semi-market farms in rural areas. For this purpose, an attempt has been made to define, distinguish and characterize the semi-market farms, their differences and homogeneity, which give grounds for the application of various measures for cooperation and integration on a regional basis. The role and the future viability of small farms remains an important issue for rural areas in Europe. The debate about SF and SSF is hindered by the lack of universally accepted definitions of subsistence and semi-subsistence farming. This is important for the policy, as the number of holdings, which are classified as semi-subsistence farms (SSF) and subsistence farms (SF), and thus the share of the managed land and the labour force they use, depend on many of the accepted definitions. The definitions, used so far, can be divided into several categories: physical size, economic size and market orientation.