Klepacka, Dorota

Wilkin, Jerzy

English

Research Papers in Economics

 
ENARPRI Coordination: CEPS, Place du Congrès 1 • B-1000 Brussels • Tel: (32.2) 229.39.85 • Fax: (32.2) 219.41.51 
e-mail: eleni.kaditi@ceps.be •  website: http://www.enarpri.org  
 
 
European Network of Agricultural and 
Rural Policy Research Institutes 
Thematic Network on Trade Agreements and European Agriculture 
Policy Brief No. 8 • February 2005 
 
Multifunctionality of Agriculture 
Comments, Case Studies and Areas for Further Research* 
Jerzy Wilkin and Dorota Klepacka 
Institute of Agricultural and Rural Development of the Policy Academy of Sciences (IRWiR PAN), Warsaw 
 
There is a need for a better description and 
understanding of the multifunctionality of agriculture 
in modern times and especially in the European 
context. Contrary to the tendency to focus on a 
shrinking share of agriculture in the GDP, we observe 
a phenomenon of the ‘upgrading’ of the role of 
agriculture in highly developed societies and 
importance given to the debate on why agriculture 
matters. Agriculture is still important in several crucial 
spheres of society and the economy. It is (or should be) 
a ‘steward’ for the majority of natural resources. It is a 
source of cultural and natural diversity of 
contemporary societies and is still the most important 
factor in shaping the character and uniqueness of rural 
areas, covering 80-95% of European territory. 
Agriculture is also a source of the most important 
product for human life – food. 
Multifunctionality of agriculture is often identified or 
mixed with the multifunctionality of rural areas. In 
Poland, the multifunctionality of rural areas (or rural 
development) is a very well-known concept, widely 
discussed since the 1980s. Multifunctionality of 
agriculture, however, is a new concept that is neither 
well described nor sufficiently connected with the 
measures of agricultural policy. Nevertheless, the 
concept of multifunctionality in agriculture can be 
applied to farmers as well as to particular agricultural 
products (such as apples, honey and horses). A 
comprehensive description of the multifunctionality of 
agriculture is a decisive factor in shaping the new 
legitimisation of public support for agriculture through 
domestic and EU policies. Further, a better 
identification and description of multifunctionality in 
this context (especially for European agriculture) is 
very important for the next round of WTO negotiations 
on agricultural support.  
It is the task of researchers dealing with agricultural 
and rural development to deliver well-grounded 
arguments for protecting agriculture, given its 
multifunctional role vis-à-vis nature, society, culture 
and the economy. Markets, especially the international 
market, should be treated as one basis for evaluating 
the role of agriculture. Yet there are other bases that 
are at least equally important for establishing the 
criteria to assess agriculture’s role in society and the 
economy. 
Agriculture produces many commercial goods, as well 
as other goods that do not have markets or the markets 
for those goods function inefficiently. As a result, in 
agricultural activities there are many spheres of 
‘market failures’ that have a positive or negative 
character. Yet, although agriculture produces a broad 
scope of commercial, merit and public goods, trade 
negotiations only deal with commercial goods. Thus a 
vast area of very important aspects of agricultural 
development is missing in trade liberalisation talks.  
In contemporary societies, the main areas of 
agricultural multifunctionality (especially in the Polish 
context) include: 
•  production of competitive market goods 
•  protection of biological diversity 
•  protection of cultural diversity
1 
•  land management aimed at fulfilling the 
ecological, economic, recreational, cultural, 
residential and other functions of the land
2 
•  contribution to the livelihood and cohesion of local 
communities 
                                                           
1 During the discussion about this aspect of agriculture, one 
of our colleagues commented that when we observe 
traditions linked with a wedding or other important family-
life ceremonies in different countries, the origin of varieties 
between regions and countries in these ceremonies come 
almost entirely from agricultural and rural traditions. 
Agricultural roots are still the most important factor in 
shaping the variety of European culture. We fully agree with 
this opinion. 
2 In Poland, agricultural activities span across nearly 60% of 
the nation’s territory.   
ENARPRI Coordination: CEPS, Place du Congrès 1 • B-1000 Brussels • Tel: (32.2) 229.39.85 • Fax: (32.2) 219.41.51 
e-mail: eleni.kaditi@ceps.be •  website: http://www.enarpri.org  
•  a special role in absorbing the social and economic 
shocks connected with rapid (or systemic) changes 
in the economic and political order. 
Another way to view the role of agricultural 
multifunctionality in contemporary society is through 
alternative approaches to modern agriculture, as shown 
in Table 1. 
Table 1. Alternative models of agriculture and 
multifunctionality 
Traditional ways of 
modernising agriculture 
Post-industrial model of 
sustainable agriculture 
-  Concentration of production 
and agricultural assets 
-  Specialisation 
-  Intensification 
-  Industrialisation 
-  Mono-functional agriculture 
-  Many negative external 
effects 
-  Extensive or 
moderately intensive 
-  Knowledge-based 
-  Multifunctional 
-  Some positive external 
effects 
 
There is a fundamental question about whether we can 
implement the non-commercial (public) functions of 
agriculture without agricultural activities. This 
question is linked with the idea of jointness in 
agricultural production. In many areas and aspects, it is 
impossible to separate agricultural production from its 
positive external outcomes. Two examples include: 
1.  the collapse of agriculture (cattle production and 
the cultivation of meadows) in some regions of the 
Biebrza National Park, which  has  resulted in a 
reduction of the bird population in these regions; 
and  
2.  the drastic reduction of the sheep population in the 
Tatra mountain region, which is a serious threat to 
the eco-system of the mountain slopes and to the 
economic and cultural life of the people in this 
region. 
One very useful source of information about the 
evolution of agricultural multifunctionality is a series 
of monographs written about particular villages, which 
covers, in some cases, a period as long as 100 years. 
These monographs include information about all the 
main aspects of agriculture relative to the economic, 
social and cultural environment. They represent a 
valuable source of knowledge about how agriculture 
has responded to changes in the three above-mentioned 
environments. 
Small farms have a special function in non-
commercialised agricultural activities. For instance, 
more people are fed from 1 hectare in the densely 
populated and relatively poor rural regions of 
Małopolska than in the richer, commercialised and 
more developed region of Wielkopolska.  
Additionally, the role of agriculture as a ‘shock 
absorber’ in periods of rapid (revolutionary in some 
cases) changes in the systemic and macroeconomic 
conditions of the economy is a particular illustration of 
its multifunctionality. This role is especially important 
in countries where a significant part of the population 
lives in agricultural households, as in the case of 
Poland. During the post-communism transformation 
(1989–2004), agricultural households offered a kind of 
safety net or survival niche for some 2 million 
unemployed persons (both those registered as 
unemployed as well as the hidden unemployed). Cases 
such as this one should be profoundly analysed in 
connection with the economic, social and cultural 
aspects of agricultural multifunctionality. 
 
* This policy brief is based on the conclusions and 
recommendations from the seminar organised by 
IRWiR PAN on 25 October 2004 
 
For further information: wilkin@wne.uw.edu.pl or 
dorotaklepacka@poczta.wp.pl  

Multifunctionality of Agriculture: Comments, Case Studies and Areas for Further Research

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