Plas, L., van der

Plas, van der, L.

NARCIS 

European rural rides

Wageningen Yield 

European Rural Rides 
L. van der Plas 
Department of Soil Science and Geology. Wageningen. 
In 1821 William Cobbett published his first version of 
Cottage Economy followed by his widely read Rural 
Rides in 1830. In both books he established himself as 
a rural realist, a political reformer and a farmer with an 
open eye for agricultural conditions and the situation 
of the poor farmer. Although William Cobbett was 
commentating on the United Kingdom, and especially 
the south of England, this article extends his title to 
underline the established fact that, approximately 150 
years later, one third of Europe's farmers are still living 
under difficult conditions. 
After the second world war a number of European 
countries became involved in programmes for the new 
independent countries in the so-called Third World. 
Such programmes focussed to a large extent on 
agriculture and especially on the agricultural 
production of small farmers. Small farmers in these 
areas are also poor farmers. 
It became rapidly clear that an overall approach was 
needed to cope with problems in rural areas of 
underdeveloped countries. It became clear that all 
sectors of community or village life had to be taken into 
account. It became clear that other types of 
employment had to be created in rural areas. It became 
clear that job-combination might be of importance as a 
tool in development. Summarising, it became clear 
that an integrated policy of rural development had to 
be created. 
The young experts grew older; they finally came home 
and took jobs in their home countries. A number of 
these experts became involved with the national 
agricultural policy of the day, working for various 
agencies or institutions of the ministeries of 
agriculture. They observed the bleak outlook of poor 
farmers, within the national and the common 
agricultural policy, living in areas that later became 
known as Less Favoured Areas (LFAs). Startled, they 
recognised that, whilst they had been working for the 
development of poor farmers in developing countries, 
there were still poor farmers living in underdeveloped 
European Areas. 
Both national governments and the European 
Commission provided funds for research in projects 
dealing with aspects of less favoured areas. The 
European Regional Development Fund has done so 
since 1975. Prior to 1980, 12 case studies were 
underway in France alone. The EEC paid for three 
Integrated Rural Development (IRD) research 
projects, one in the Belgium province of Namur. one in 
the German areas of Tirschenreuth and Daun and one 
in the islands off the coast of Scotland. 
In 1978, the European Economic Community (EEC) 
resolved to provide financial assistance towards a 
programme of European research in Integrated Rural 
Development. To define problems more precisely a 
seminar was organised in October 1979 at Bayreuth in 
the Federal Republic of Germany, the results of which 
were published in Gardiner and Husemeyer (1980). 
Three subjects emerged clearly from this seminar: 
i the necessity to carry out a number of case studies in 
IRD; 
ii a study of the role, the desirability and the future of 
part-time farming and multiple job holding; and 
iii a study of the development of land-prices and the 
influences of non-agricultural land-use and 
administrative limitations. 
It was decided afterwards that the study of the 
landmarket should be carried out as a special project. 
Furthermore, an expert committee was requested to 
prepare a draft 'call for offers' for case studies in 
integrated rural development; and for studies on 
multiple job holding and job flexibility. 
Some twenty five research groups applied and after a 
selection by an international expert group, 3 projects 
on job combination and job flexibility were awarded as 
well as twelve case studies in IRD. 
PART TIME FARMING 
The three projects on "part-farming" were carried out 
in the Federal Republic of Germany, in the 
Tirschenreuth, the scene of a large IRD project by the 
EEC; in the United Kingdom, in parts of England and 
Wales on farm-based tourism; and in Ireland. The 
results together with a French and an Italian inventory 
of the problems of multiple job holding and job 
flexibility were discussed during a workshop in 
Brussels early in 1983. A summary report prepared by 
Dr. W. Himmighofen will be available shortly'. It 
concludes that the old equation "one farm equals one 
family equals one income" does not apply anymore. 
Yesterday's view of part-time farming was that it 
belonged to the transition of an agricultural to an 
industrial society and that it would not survive. The 
present research shows it to have a different future. 
Part-time farming is a human, social and economic 
response to industrial society. This leads to the 
prediction that part-time farming is not destined to 
disappear but may well increase. 
The future part-time farmer may well be a highly 
skilled, flexible entrepreneur adequately reacting and 
economically and socially adjusting to ever changing 
conditions. 
TWELVE CASE STUDIES IN IRD 
The Standing Committee on Agricultural Reseach 
(SCAR) required the case studies to produce a more or 
less common methodology for the analysis of the 
various aspects of IRD; to report about possible 
strategies; and to present the results of their research 
in such a way that they can be compared. These 
conditions required a coordination of research 
activities from the beginning of the projects. 
In December 1981 the expert group prescribed in more 
detail the aspects of efficient project coordination: 
frequent meetings of project leaders and research 
workers at workshops; 
circulation of relevant information through a co-
ordinator, 
circulation of half-yearly progress reports among 
project leaders; 
mid-term reports should be comprehensive with 
regard to the completed methodology phase enabling 
decisions on future orientation of the programme; 
a commonly agreed fotmat of a fkial summary report at 
the end of 1983; and 
the production of an overview report on the practical 
and applicable achievements. 
' Both the Himmighofen text and the summary reports are to be published in the Proceedings of the European 
Symposium on Integrated Rural Development to be held on 24-25 September 1985 at Wageningen, Netherlands by 
NRLO. P.O. Box 297, 2507 BD Den Haag, Netherlands. 
With more than 100 research workers and 12 project 
leaders, the 7 members of the expert group and the co-
ordinator did not succeed on all these points. They did 
organise four workshops, two of which involved visits 
to a project area. They made a thorough study of 
common aspects of the concept of IRD. They agreed 
on a format of the final summary report of which ten 
were presented before the end of 1983. They produced 
an analysis of their methodology and the final reports 
will all be available shortly1. And most important of all, 
a large number of research workers practiced 
multidisciplinary research in IRD and visited with 
project teams in other areas and other countries 
through EEC travel grants. 
A COMPARISON OF CASE STUDY 
AREAS 
Before going into some statistics and before trying to 
formulate some of the more important results reached 
by the teams, the diversity of the areas under study 
should be stressed. 
From the situation on the map it is clear that the areas 
differ in climate, in landscape and in agricultural 
activities. Radnor and Eden is sheep country with an 
altitude not exceeding 600 m. The Italian Stura di 
Démonte valley is a milkproducing, cattle breeding, 
chestnut producing area with some forestry between 
600 and 3000 m. The French Alps project shows the 
additional advantage of exploitation of Winter Sports 
Stations such as Val d'Isère; the Bocage region 
surrounding Caen is rather densely populated, showing 
the production of a variety of crops like fruits and 
potatoes as well as dairy farming and beef and pork 
production. The German projects in the north 
compare agriculture in lowland areas, fishery, poultry 
farming and tourism along the coast; the other German 
project compares agriculture in a hill country on 
Europe's largest basalt volcano (1500 km2) with that in 
a nearby prosperous area with arable land producing 
sugar beet, potatoes and cereals. The Irish area is a 
rugged peat country with sheep and cattle on the west 
coast. The Belgium Namur area is a forested rather 
poor cattle area with a lot of small scale tourist sites. 
LESS FAVOURED AREAS 
The case studies have been largely carried out in so 
called Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) to a large extent 
falling under directive 75/268. A study of the map of 
Europe shows that one third of the total utilised 
agricultural area and approximately one third of all the 
farms fall under this directive. 
Whilst 65% of the EEC budget goes to agriculture, only 
5% finances the Guidance Section, as follows: 
modernisation of farms (directive 72/159); 
cessation of farming and reallocation of the 
agricultural area for the purpose of structural 
improvement (directive 72/160); 
socio-economic guidance and provision for education 
and training of farmers (directive 72/161); and 
the continuation of mountain and hill farming, to 
counteract depopulation and to ensure conservation 
of the countryside (directive 75/268). 
The budget of the entire Guidance Section for 1984 is 
539 mio ECUs, of which 210 mio ECUs goes to directive 
75/268. 
Summarising, one third of the European farmers get 
only 2V4% of the common agricultural budget to assist 
with the special handicaps under which they have to 
work and live in these low productivity areas. 
CASE STUDY CONCLUSIONS 
The fact finding part of the case studies established a 
few economic and demographic tends that are more or 
less similar for each of the areas under study. 
At the Bayreuth seminar it was assumed that these 
regions all suffer from a decreasing population and a 
relative increase of people over 65. Results over a 
period of 10 to 15 years show that this is not a general 
trend. In about half of the areas the total population is 
increasing, sometimes rapidly. The demographic 
data show a higher proportion of people over 65 as 
compared with the national averages, the proportion 
being slightly higher in some areas and markedly so in 
others. The proportion of people between 25 to 65 is 
generally lower. 
The average purchasing power of people in these areas 
tends to be lower than the national average. The 
unemployment figures tend to be higher or even much 
higher than the national average with the exception of 
some study areas in France. 
The conclusions and recommendations produced by 
the various research teams are aimed at local 
constraints, local possibilities, local strategies and 
local solutions. They encompass the regional 
administration, the national attitude towards the 
farming community and the traditional evaluation of 
the contribution of the countryside towards the benefit 
of the urban-based consumer. And they leave the 
reader with a growing concern about the real effects as 
compared with the original aims of EEC and national 
policy instruments. 
A particularly important conclusion from the case 
study reports is that policies and measures, whether 
national or regional, are not in general integrated. 
There is a lack of co-ordination at various levels and 
the legal formulation of existing community and 
national directives is too strictly agricultural. The 
study from the south west of England, for example, 
found as follows. "Playing some role in supporting the 
communi ty or economy, or sustain ing the 
infrastructure, of the hills area at least 20 government 
departments' and agencies are involved each with a 
d is t inc t regional s t ructure and pattern of 
administration and of handling statistics, etc; e.g. 3 
tiers of local authority with many individual authorities 
within each tier and perhaps a dozen other statutory 
agencies. The only nominal mechanism which exists 
to correlate the actions of these bodies is the County 
Structure Plan, which has very little executive bite." 
Agriculture is unlikely now to win back the position of 
dominant development factor that it had in the past. 
Therefore successful development activities should be 
aimed at all sectors within an area including 
agriculture, industry, services, education, training and 
tourism. 
Another important result of these case studies is the 
realisation that communities in LFAs and other 
peripheral agricultural areas must accept that the 
prime initiative in securing their own continued well-
being may increasingly rest with them. In a number of 
cases they have-taken initiatives already. They have 
organised themselves into action groups. They are 
becoming articulate, even loud-voiced after the pattern 
of labour unions; and they are promoting their own 
case more aggressively. 
Although a number of actual problems seem to be 
closely related with the present economic situation 
such as the unemployment rate, the decrease in 
services, the closing of village schools and the 
decrease of public transport facilities, it is evident from 
the research results that all these problems have a 
structural component. 
Finally, it became apparent that the EEC activities 
towards developing less favoured rural areas are only 
known to a very few insiders. Therefore the community 
can be presented and regarded as an 'expensive 
monster" which costs a lot but brings few rewards. The 
direct and indirect advantages of various EEC 
measures are generally little recognised. 
An alpine village in south eastern France where farmers are involved in cattle breeding and small scale dairy production. 
These terraces on steep slopes in the Piémont area of northern Italy were formerly used for growing barley but are now abandoned 
to extensive grazing. 
**-Tk - —-^- --• - — S%s£-
Marsh land between the Elbe and Weser rivers in northern Germany. 
FUTURE STRATEGIES AND POLICY 
MEASURES 
The research reports list numerous suggestions for 
future strategies and policy measures at community, 
national and regional levels. The general trend of these 
measures is better co-ordination, more authority and 
more autonomy at the level of regional councils; and 
this needs to inspire future strategies. 
A badly needed new definition of Integrated Rural 
Development should be the root of new strategies and 
directives encompassing all sectors of regional activity 
and not only agriculture. Suggestions for such 
definitions are part of practically all the research 
reports. 
The fact should be accepted that a general programme 
at community level or national level for the 
development of rural areas will not have the desired 
effect. Details of measures and programmes should be 
formulated and decided upon at the regional level, they 
should be geared to regional problems and phrased 
by people living and working in the region. 
A minimum standard of public infrastructure 
(education, transport, services) must be maintained in 
rural areas, even if this is going to result in a permanent 
subvention. Lowering the cost of using private cars for 
people living and working in rural areas through a 
special kilometer-lump sum or abolishment of car 
taxes should be considered for example. 
It is necessary to increase the self-sufficiency of these 
areas and to strengthen community finances whilst at 
the same time decreasing project bound subsidies 
because they prevent the realisation of community 
preferences. It is also necessary to prevent 
discrimination against multiple job holders. 
Strategic policies should be developed for forestry at 
the community level. 
The aims of EEC policy should be better advertised and 
the awards and their advantages should be more 
clearly spelled out. 
A PREVIEW 
The message of the 12 case studies is a difficult one to 
realise against the background of the political views of 
today; against the background of the present 
economic situation and the unemployment rate 
amongst industrial workers; against the smelly 
reputation of a part of today's agriculture charged with 
overproduction and soil and water pollution through 
surpluses of manure and over consumption of 
fertilisers and chemicals. 
We need a new agricultural policy with new objectives. 
We need a decentralised administration and a 
distribution of responsibilities which will become 
easier by applying information technology. According 
to new trends in the Netherlands agricultural policy as 
voiced during the recent OECD conference of 
directors of agricultural research, we need not only an 
active policy of integrated rural development in certain 
regions in the community, we also need an integrated 
agriculture with the following objectives, amongst 
others: 
fair prices and better quality of products for 
consumers; 
reasonable incomes and working conditions for 
farmers as compared with other employment; 
maintenance of employment in agriculture; 
stimulation of certain products for self-sufficiency 
(wood) and curtailing of surplus production; 
more economic use of energy and raw materials; and 
improvement of environmental quality. 
I will end with a f iw personal remarks, the first of which 
was handed to me by Marie Elisabeth Chassagne who 
made a lucid and visionary contribution to a seminar in 
Caen last spring when I was visiting the Bocage study 
area. In her publication Pour une Politique du 
Développement Rural (Chassagne. 1982), she writes 
as follows. 
"There is a lot at stake. Our economy, our society, are 
confronted with a structural crisis touching all the 
developed industrial countries. The old remedies do 
not help us anymore. We have to devise and 
experiment with new models and systems of society. 
The countryside, the rural areas may well be the place 
to situate such models of aspects of a future society. 
There we find people who know each other and not the 
urban faceless bureaucracy; there we find unexploited 
resources and human potential full of the will to live. No 
government can maintain itself without properly 
acknowledging the rural facts and the rural factors". 
It may well be that the problems and the populations of 
the rural parts of Europe (still more than 90% of the 
whole) are presently politically uninteresting. It may 
well be that the countryside is underpopulated and 
people still move away to urban areas. It does not 
mean that these areas are ceasing to exist in the near 
future. On the contrary, it seems that a change is 
underway; some areas are beginning to show an 
increase in population. May I call attention to Toffler's 
Third Wave and especially to his "electronic cottage" 
(Toffler, 1980). The new workers sit at home at 
computer terminals or go to the "corner workshop" 
taking part in a largely decentralised production 
process. May I recall his statement: "Today it takes an 
act of courage to suggest that our biggest factories and 
office towers may, within our lifetime, stand half empty, 
reduced to use as ghostly warehouses . . . " . We may 
well ask whether "a post-industrial society is also a 
post-urban society". And we may well assume that the 
future of the European countries is closely linked with, 
perhaps depends upon, a well-balanced development 
of the rural area of the European community. 
References 
Chassagne. Mane-Elisabeth (1982) Pour une Politique du 
Développement Rural Groupe de Recherche pour lEducation 
Permanente. 13-15 r. des petites-écuries 75010 Pans. 
Gardiner. M. J. & Husemeyer. C.. (1980) Selected Soao-Econormc 
Aspects of Lend Utilization Commission of trie European 
Communities, EUR 6876 EN Luxembourg. CD-NK-60-004-EN-C. 
Toftler. Alvm (1980) The Third Wave 544 pp. Collins. London. 


European rural rides

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