Suchergebnisse

Farming enterprises throughout the European Union have traditionally been treated very differently by the state compared with their nonagricultural counterparts. Agricultural activities have been governed by a separate set of policy objectives, political institutions, and support agencies. However, this agricultural 'exceptionalism' is being steadily eroded as markets are partially liberalised, farmers are encouraged to pursue new forms of economic activity, and as government institutions are reformed. Farmers are being encouraged to see themselves as 'entrepreneurs' to face fundamentally changed markets. There is, therefore, renewed attention to the existing levels of generic business skills within the farming sector and to the nature and effectiveness of business advice and support frameworks in enhancing these skills. The paper investigates the extent to which farmers have experienced different patterns of business support use and perceive themselves as having different generic skills needs in comparison with other rural microbusinesses and considers the attractiveness of different models of delivering business advice to the sector. A review is undertaken of the evolution of rural business support in England together with an analysis of data from a survey of almost 1800 rural microbusinesses in the northeast of England. It is concluded that there are a number of significant challenges facing the adjustment of the farm sector towards a more entrepreneurial model of business development arising from the sector's legacy of separation and exceptionalism within the support framework. In order to help encourage the development of generic business skills an 'intermediary' model of business advice is advocated, in which an intermediary agency acts as a bridge between farms and generic business support providers.

Rural areas are becoming increasingly differentiated and gradually losing their agricultural specificity. They now need to support the coexistence of two logical approaches to occupation of their space: one based on the supply of agricultural and forestry products, the other on the various demands from local residents and seasonal tourists. Under these conditions the roles of agriculture, forestry, and tourism industry are evolving; the focus is no longer simply on supplying market goods while limiting the impacts of this supply on negative external factors but now also on participating in land development and meeting the manifold expectations of society. The paper analyses EU policies related to multifunctional land use activities on the national and regional level. The policy framework within which multifunctionality of land use activities is realized is determined by three EU policies, namely the Cohesion Policy, Rural Development Policy, and Enlargement Policy. The paper focus on six cases: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, France and UK. Three of the case study sites (in Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Croatia) were/are influenced by the financial instruments of the Enlargement policies (PHARE, SAPARD, ISPA, IPA). The impact of EU policies is assessed in three domains – economic, social and environment. The scope of impact of the major driving forces for multifunctional land use activities is assessed and analyzed.

Rural areas are becoming increasingly differentiated and gradually losing their agricultural specificity. They now need to support the coexistence of two logical approaches to occupation of their space: one based on the supply of agricultural and forestry products, the other on the various demands from local residents and seasonal tourists. Under these conditions the roles of agriculture, forestry, and tourism industry are evolving; the focus is no longer simply on supplying market goods while limiting the impacts of this supply on negative external factors but now also on participating in land development and meeting the manifold expectations of society. The paper analyses EU policies related to multifunctional land use activities on the national and regional level. The policy framework within which multifunctionality of land use activities is realized is determined by three EU policies, namely the Cohesion Policy, Rural Development Policy, and Enlargement Policy. The paper focus on six cases: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, France and UK. Three of the case study sites (in Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Croatia) were/are influenced by the financial instruments of the Enlargement policies (PHARE, SAPARD, ISPA, IPA). The impact of EU policies is assessed in three domains – economic, social and environment. The scope of impact of the major driving forces for multifunctional land use activities is assessed and analyzed. Keywords: Multifunctionality, EU policy, Rural Development