Evaluating the Impact of Alternative Policy Scenarios on Multifunctionality: A Case Study of Finland. CEPS ENARPRI Working Papers No. 13, 1 July 2005

This paper provides first results of the sector-model approach to analysing the effects of alternative policy scenarios on the multifunctional role of Finnish agriculture. In terms of environmental non-commodity outputs, this study focuses on nutrient runoffs, landscape diversity and biodiversity. As regards other non-commodity outputs, the paper considers rural socio-economic viability. The results suggest that, on the whole, reform of the common agricultural policy is not likely to result in any drastic decline of agricultural production in Finland. The amount of green fallow will increase considerably when agricultural support payments are decoupled from production, and as a result the remaining cultivated agricultural land will become biologically richer. The agricultural labour force is likely to decrease substantially irrespective of agricultural policy. The study concludes that the credibility of the production economics and biological relationships of the economic model determine the validity of the results of the many indicators examined. Further, the economic logic of microeconomic simulation models provides a consistent assessment of the many aspects of multifunctionality

Setting up and management of public policies multifunctional purpose. The case of Developing Countries : Capitalisation of research results on the multifunctionality of agriculture and rural areas

The notion of multifuncionality appeared for the first time in 1992 in the proceedings of the International Conference of the United Nations on Environment and Development. But, the notion was and is mainly used by developed countries, particularly in Europe, with the purpose of preserving and reinforcing the involvement of agriculture in social and territorial fields. For many developing countries, multifunctionality is out of step since (i) a lot of them have severe social, political, institutional and budget constraints, (ii) the concept is not coherent with the liberalization patterns proposed and often imposed by international donors (withdrawal of the state, market and trade oriented policies), and (iii) multifunctionality is perceived as a tool used by the European countries in the context of trade negotiations to justify the subsidies to their agriculture, and consequently contrary to their own interests. However, changes seem to appear in some developing countries regarding the notion of multifuncionality considering the impacts of liberalization and the new rules for trade on their agriculture and rural areas. During the last two decades, most of the developing countries shifted their former integrated public policies (IP) - implemented before the debt crisis - to segmented (SP) or differential policies (DP) dedicated to targeted objectives. In that context many policies were implemented to create social safety nets or for the preservation of natural resources. In the agricultural sector, most of the policies are now residual (RP), but some countries, such as Brazil, are implementing differential policies targeted on territorial development or family agriculture. In most DCs market driven approaches to multifunctionality are not relevant because of a lack of national public funding, low institutional capacity, and narrow demand. Alternative modes of funding have to be designed, mixing public and private tools. In that perspective, some Asian countries have implemented innovative approaches encouraging a partnership between village communities and the state based on local know-how and public supports for marketing. Due to the very specific context of DC¿s, the main recommendations to the EU are: (i) to go deeper into the policy oriented research on the setting and management of multifunctionality, (ii) to take into account the consequences of the distortions due to its own public policy and to engage in a work about how to compensate market distortions or negative externalities for the DCs, (iii) to increase cooperation between EU and DCs on the processes of policy making related to agriculture and rural areas, (iv) to implement specific fundings to enhance the recognition of the different functions of agriculture and to fill the research gaps in the comprehension of the processes at stake necessary for the definition and implementation of a negotiated reform agenda based on the specificity of each national and local contexts. (Résumé d'auteur

THE IMPACT OF II PILLAR ON THE MULTIFUNCTIONALITY IN ITALIAN FARMS: ANALYSIS ON THE FARM HOLIDAYS

This analysis has examined the relationships between the European funds for rural development and the multifunctionality during a short time, comparing two different situations before and after the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform. The main problem was to find a variable able to describe the multifunctionality; the agritourism, in particular, number of farm holidays farms, has been the dependant variable useful to value the rural multifunctionality and the impact of the increase of II pillar fund. The Principal Component Analysis and the model of Ordinary Least Square have confirmed the positive impact of European Agricultural funds in the rural development and in the increase of active farm holidays farms.agritourism, farm holidays farms, Italian agritourism, II pillar, certified quality food., Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C01, Q18.,

Consumer Preferences Regarding Multifunctional Agriculture

Multifunctionality is one of the key issues and concepts in European agriculture and in the common agricultural policy. Its importance is further emphasized in the context of the WTO negotiations. Stronger emphasis on multifunctionality will also have significant impacts on the food and agribusiness sector. Yet, so far consumers' views on multifunctionality have mostly been neglected in both policy planning and research. This paper presents one of the first major surveys on consumers' attitudes towards and willingness to pay for multifunctional agriculture. The study is based on a modern computer aided interviewing system and the contingent valuation method was employed to find out the WTP.Consumer/Household Economics,

Representing multifunctional cities: density and diversity in space and time

In this paper, we define measures of urban diversity, density and segregation using newdata and software systems based on GIS. These allow us to visualise the meaning of themultifunctional city. We begin with a discussion of how cities have become moresegregated in their land uses and activities during the last 200 years and how the currentfocus is on reversing this trend through limiting urban sprawl and bringing new lifeback to the inner and central city. We define various indices which show how diversityand density manifest themselves spatially. We argue that multifunctionalism is a relativeconcept, dependent upon the spatial and temporal scale that we use to think about themixing and concentration of urban land uses. We present three examples using spatiallysmoothed indicators of diversity: for a world city ? London, for a highly controlledpolycentric urban region ? Randstad Holland, and for a much more diffusely populatedsemi-urban region ? Venice-Padua-Teviso. We conclude by illustrating that urbandiversity varies as people engage in different activities associated with different landuses throughout the day, as well as through the vertical, third dimension of the city. Thisimpresses the point that we need to understand multifunctional cities in all theirdimensions of space and time

EU rural development policy in the new member states: promoting multifunctionality?

European Union (EU) enlargement has seen ten new member states (NMS) adopt the full range of EU policies. Within this, the rural development arm of the Common Agricultural Policy offers particular points of interest. Member states chose from an extensive list of policy measures developed within the EU15 and intended, in particular, to operationalise the concept of rural multifunctionality within the ongoing CAP reform process. This paper identifies the rural development policy choices made by the eight central and eastern European NMS and develops a taxonomy to ascertain the extent to which the NMS are directing public funds to promote multifunctionality. A number of factors are then identified as helping to influence the policy choices made across countries

Landscape Urban Structure Design - S. Romão Sportive Park, Leiria Polis, Portugal

It is due to the modern movement the loss of both landscape and open spaces multifunctionality. Consequently, it merges the term of “green spaces” amorphous and residual, often void and without any appropriation, so characteristic of the contemporary city. This study is a reflexion about and a practice result of the return to these spaces multifunctionality through a landscape structure on the urban space. We want this structure to be continuous, structuring and assuring biologic processes and fluxes that occur in the landscape systems. We present the casestudy of S. Romão Sportive Park included in Polis Program of Leiria City, in Portugal. It is a system of open spaces that constitutes itself as a landscape structure, continuous and multifunctional

A semiotic polyocular framework for multidisciplinary research in relation to multifunctional farming and rural development

The concept of multifunctional farming rises out of a problematization of the role of agriculture in society and, in particular, in relation to rural development. Hitherto multifunctional farming has primarily been used as a notion on the relationship between agriculture and society concerning the range of commodity and non-commodity goods that farms provide for society. But the agro-economic achievements together with societal development have led to a point where praxis is questioned and discourse potentially reopened. In an indirect way, the notion of multifunctionality reflects, that aspects not captured by the distinction between commodity and non-commodity need to be reintroduced. This paper offers a new framework (theoretical and methodical) suggesting a poly-ocular multidisciplinary approach and constructivist semiotic understanding of multifunctionality, which supports dialogue and interactions between the approaches, involved. Each research perspective has its own construction of the object of ‘farming’ and the ‘environment’ of farming; and thereby also its own perception of the functions and problems of farming. It therefore comes as no surprise that problems of communication are experienced between different perspectives, or that confusion on shared notions can cause frustrations and difficulties for multidisciplinary studies of multifunctionality. The present framework introduces a notion of multifunctionality, which enables the explicit handling of different perspectives by way of a distinction between the ‘immediate object’, as it appears to the observer, and the ‘dynamical object’, which represents the potentiality of the object in itself. From such semiotic point of view, the notion of multifunctionality becomes genuinely multidisciplinary. Multifunctionality cannot be reduced and included in one perspective, but has to be observed as a second order observation that involves reflexive communication between different perspectives and disciplines

Strengthening the positive links between organic farming and a sustainable development of rural areas

Organic farming can play a major role in the sustainable development of rural areas. Our assumption is that it supports the finding of a new balance between societal demands for high environmental quality, the pressures resulting from competition in a world market economy and a wide array of rural development goals and initiatives. The German 'Regional Action - Rural Areas Shaping the Future' pilot programme has been implemented in order to gain best-practice models for securing the economic, ecological and social viability of rural areas and for trial-testing a new integrated, bottom-up approach. In this contribution we present the results of an analysis of the project databank of the Regional Action pilot programme. It is concluded that the projects that are being implemented aim at a reconstitution of nature-society relations, indicating that agriculture and the potential of rural areas are no longer being evaluated in mono-functional terms