IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/eurcho/v20y2021i3p75-80.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Rural Development Policies Really Help Small Farms? A Reflection from Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Yari Vecchio
  • Paolo De Castro
  • Margherita Masi
  • Felice Adinolfi

Abstract

Although research and political intentions both recognise the crucial role of small farms in Rural Development (RD) strategies, in actual practice they are left out of the benefits of agricultural policies. This is not established by legislative or regulatory prescriptions. It is the result of consolidated practices driven by the productivist approach to agricultural development, overtaken by the concept of multifunctionality, which has inspired European intervention in the agricultural sector and rural areas for more than twenty years. This is particularly evident in Italy, where the weight of small farms is extremely significant in terms of numbers, farmland area and work generated. The continuity of small farms in Italy is of fundamental importance due to their economic, environmental and social relevance to the objective of reconnecting agriculture and territories in a circular vision of RD. Despite this crucial role, these farms have historically had great difficulty accessing RD programmes due to the national or regional implementation of these plans, which set access thresholds and procedural constraints that effectively exclude small farmers. The construction of a national strategy for rural areas requires specific attention to the universe of small farms, which should be included within the perimeter of the potential beneficiaries of RD policies. Bien que la recherche et les intentions politiques reconnaissent toutes deux le rôle crucial des petites exploitations dans les stratégies de développement rural (DR), dans la pratique, elles sont exclues des avantages des politiques agricoles. Ceci n'est pas établi par des prescriptions législatives ou réglementaires. C'est le résultat de pratiques consolidées portées par l'approche productiviste du développement agricole, dépassée par le concept de multifonctionnalité qui a inspiré l'intervention européenne dans le secteur agricole et les zones rurales depuis plus de vingt ans. C'est particulièrement évident en Italie, où le poids des petites exploitations est extrêmement important en termes d'effectifs, de superficie foncière et de création d’emploi. La continuité des petites exploitations en Italie est d'une importance fondamentale en raison de leur pertinence économique, environnementale et sociale pour l'objectif de reconnecter agriculture et territoires dans une vision circulaire du DR. Malgré ce rôle crucial, ces exploitations ont historiquement eu de grandes difficultés à accéder aux programmes de DR en raison de la mise en œuvre nationale ou régionale de ces plans, qui fixent des seuils d'accès et des contraintes procédurales qui excluent effectivement les petits agriculteurs. La construction d'une stratégie nationale pour les zones rurales nécessite une attention particulière à l'univers des petites exploitations agricoles, qui doivent être incluses dans le périmètre des bénéficiaires potentiels des politiques de DR. Sowohl in der Forschung als auch in der Politik wird anerkannt, dass kleine landwirtschaftliche Betriebe in den Strategien zur Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums eine entscheidende Rolle spielen. Dennoch werden sie in der Praxis von den Vorteilen der Agrarpolitik ausgeschlossen. Dies ist nicht auf legislative oder regulatorische Vorschriften zurückzuführen. Es ist das Ergebnis gefestigter Vorgehensweisen, die von einem auf der Produktivität ausgerichteten Ansatz zur landwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung bestimmt werden. Dieser Ansatz wurde vom Konzept der Multifunktionalität überholt, welches die europäischen Maßnahmen im Agrarsektor und in den ländlichen Gebieten seit mehr als zwanzig Jahren bestimmt. Besonders deutlich wird dies in Italien, wo die kleinen landwirtschaftlichen Betriebe in Bezug auf ihre Zahl, ihre Fläche und der von ihnen geleisteten Arbeit ein sehr großes Gewicht haben. Der Fortbestand der kleinen landwirtschaftlichen Betriebe in Italien spielt aufgrund ihrer wirtschaftlichen, ökologischen und sozialen Bedeutung für das Ziel, die Landwirtschaft und die Regionen im Rahmen einer „zirkulären Vision“ für die ländliche Entwicklung wieder miteinander zu verbinden eine entscheidende Rolle. Dessen ungeachtet hatten diese Betriebe in der Vergangenheit große Schwierigkeiten beim Zugang zu den Programmen für die ländliche Entwicklung. Dies ist darauf zurückzuführen, dass bei der Umsetzung der Pläne auf nationaler oder regionaler Ebene Zugangsschwellen und verfahrenstechnische Beschränkungen festgelegt wurden, die die kleinen landwirtschaftlichen Betriebe effektiv ausschließen. Die Ausarbeitung einer nationalen Strategie für den ländlichen Raum erfordert eine besondere Berücksichtigung der kleinen landwirtschaftlichen Betriebe, die in den Kreis der potenziellen Begünstigten der Politik zur Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums aufgenommen werden sollten.

Suggested Citation

  • Yari Vecchio & Paolo De Castro & Margherita Masi & Felice Adinolfi, 2021. "Do Rural Development Policies Really Help Small Farms? A Reflection from Italy," EuroChoices, The Agricultural Economics Society, vol. 20(3), pages 75-80, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:eurcho:v:20:y:2021:i:3:p:75-80
    DOI: 10.1111/1746-692X.12338
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692X.12338
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1746-692X.12338?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guiomar, N. & Godinho, S. & Pinto-Correia, T. & Almeida, M. & Bartolini, F. & Bezák, P. & Biró, M. & Bjørkhaug, H. & Bojnec, Š. & Brunori, G. & Corazzin, M. & Czekaj, M. & Davidova, S. & Kania, J. & K, 2018. "Typology and distribution of small farms in Europe: Towards a better picture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 784-798.
    2. Mauro Vigani & Janet Dwyer, 2020. "Profitability and Efficiency of High Nature Value Marginal Farming in England," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(2), pages 439-464, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marcello De Rosa & Luca Bartoli & Teresa Del Giudice & Yari Vecchio, 2022. "Conducive Environments and Entrepreneurial Access to Rural Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, April.
    2. Czyżewski, Bazyli & Kryszak, Łukasz, 2023. "Can a pursuit of productivity be reconciled with sustainable practices in small-scale farming? – Evidence from central and eastern Europe," MPRA Paper 117642, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 31 May 2023.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ogawa, Keishi & Garrod, Guy & Yagi, Hironori, 2023. "Sustainability strategies and stakeholder management for upland farming," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    2. Veronica Polin & Laura Cavalli & Matteo Spinazzola, 2023. "Bottom-Up Initiatives for Sustainable Mountain Development in Italy: An Interregional Explorative Survey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-30, December.
    3. Andrew P. Barnes, 2023. "The role of family life‐cycle events on persistent and transient inefficiencies in less favoured areas," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 295-315, February.
    4. Concetta Cardillo & Orlando Cimino, 2022. "Small Farms in Italy: What Is Their Impact on the Sustainability of Rural Areas?," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-25, November.
    5. Solfanelli, Francesco & Ozturk, Emel & Pugliese, Patrizia & Zanoli, Raffaele, 2021. "Potential outcomes and impacts of organic group certification in Italy: An evaluative case study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    6. Stępień Sebastian & Smędzik-Ambroży Katarzyna & Polcyn Jan & Kwiliński Aleksy & Maican Ionut, 2023. "Are small farms sustainable and technologically smart? Evidence from Poland, Romania, and Lithuania," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 10(57), pages 116-132, January.
    7. Jana Poláková & Jaroslav Humpál & Adam Svoboda & Josef Soukup, 2024. "Interpreting Different Narratives about Land Services and Land Use Economics of Common Agricultural Policy," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, May.
    8. Petrescu-Mag, Ruxandra Malina & Petrescu, Dacinia Crina & Todoran, Silviu Ciprian & Petrescu-Mag, Ioan Valentin, 2021. "Us and them. Is the COVID-19 pandemic a driver for xenophobia in land transactions in Romania?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    9. Khafagy, Amr & Vigani, Mauro, 2022. "Technical change and the Common Agricultural Policy," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    10. Netshipale, A.J. & Raidimi, E.N. & Mashiloane, M.L. & de Boer, I.J.M. & Oosting, S.J., 2022. "Farming system diversity and its drivers in land reform farms of the Waterberg District, South Africa," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    11. Dominik Bertram & Tobias Chilla & Carola Wilhelm, 2021. "Short Value Chains in Food Production: The Role of Spatial Proximity for Economic and Land Use Dynamics," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, September.
    12. Barnes, Andrew P. & Bevan, Kev & Moxey, Andrew & Grierson, Sascha & Toma, Luiza, 2023. "Identifying best practice in Less Favoured Area mixed livestock systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    13. Cánovas-Molina, Almudena & Cánovas Soler, Antonio & García-Frapolli, Eduardo, 2021. "City-traditional agriculture dialogues: The ‘Huerta de Murcia’ case study," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    14. Štefan Bojnec & Kristina Knific, 2021. "Farm Household Income Diversification as a Survival Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, June.
    15. Czyżewski, Bazyli & Kryszak, Łukasz, 2023. "Can a pursuit of productivity be reconciled with sustainable practices in small-scale farming? – Evidence from central and eastern Europe," MPRA Paper 117642, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 31 May 2023.
    16. Muñoz-Rojas, J. & Pinto-Correia, T. & Napoleone, C., 2019. "Farm and land system dynamics in the Mediterranean: Integrating different spatial-temporal scales and management approaches," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Giles Atkinson & Paola Ovando, 2022. "Distributional Issues in Natural Capital Accounting: An Application to Land Ownership and Ecosystem Services in Scotland," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 81(2), pages 215-241, February.
    18. Bisrat Haile Gebrekidan & Thomas Heckelei & Sebastian Rasch, 2020. "Characterizing Farmers and Farming System in Kilombero Valley Floodplain, Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-21, August.
    19. Anne Gobin & Ann Van Herzele, 2023. "A Data-Driven Farm Typology as a Basis for Agricultural Land Use Decisions," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, November.
    20. Anna Górka, 2024. "Assessment of Alterations in Settlement Patterns of Agricultural Landscape in the Example of Kashubia in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-15, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:eurcho:v:20:y:2021:i:3:p:75-80. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.