Row initiated by father on edge (8)
I believe the answer is:
frontier
'edge' is the definition.
(frontier is a kind of edge)
'row initiated by father on' is the wordplay.
'row' becomes 'tier' (tier is a kind of row**).
'initiated by' means one lot of letters go next to another (some letters go at the start of others).
'father' becomes 'fr'.
'fr'+'on'='fron'
'tier' after 'fron' is 'FRONTIER'.
(Other definitions for frontier that I've seen before include "Border separating two countries" , "Wilderness at the edge of a settled area" , "Boundary, border" , "Marches" , "National border" .)