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Using a novel approach based on transition theory, this book establishes a link between multifunctionality and debates on the postulated transition towards 'post-productivism' in agriculture. It argues that multifunctionality can best be understood as a spectrum of decision-making bounded by productivist and non-productivist action and thought and this normative assessment of multifunctionality better encapsulates the current complexity of agricultural and rural change. This book is intended as a resource for decision-makers in contemporary agricultural and rural spaces, and for researchers and students in social sciences, agriculture and the rural sector. The book has 11 chapters and a subject index.

The carbon economy has emerged over the last decade as an important but controversial development in the harnessing of economics to address the challenge of climate change. In this paper we utilise the concepts of policy change and transition theorisations to analyse carbon commodification within the broader range of possible responses to the climate problem. We argue that the neoliberal, technocentric, and ecological modernisation values underpinning the carbon economy create serious obstacles for the incorporation of alternative or complementary transitional strategies, particularly those involving ecocentric changes, into mainstream policy. From this we contend that a more holistic approach to the conceptualisation of change processes is needed, and that transition theory provides a useful lens for identifying and assessing existing constraints and future possibilities.

This paper argues that the possible shift towards conservation‐oriented attitudes of farmers through agri‐environmental scheme participation should be seen as a key indicator for assessing the 'effectiveness' of agri‐environmental policy. Through the analysis of two agri‐environmental schemes in the UK, the ESA and Countryside Stewardship schemes, the study suggests that schemes attract different types of farmers and have different results with regard to shifting farmers' attitudes towards conservation. The paper concludes that there is little evidence yet that the ESA scheme is contributing to changes in farmers' attitudes towards conservation, largely because the scheme is aimed at maintenance rather than change. The Countryside Stewardship scheme, meanwhile, generally enrols more conservation‐oriented farmers and also shows greater potential for shifting farmers' attitudes, mainly because it is aimed at enhancement of wildlife habitats which often require farmers to change farm management practices. Results indicate that future policies should put more emphasis on scheme monitoring and farmer environmental education in order to help move farmers along the conservation spectrum. In the ESA scheme, management agreement tiers that require more substantial changes to farm management practices towards conservation‐oriented farming should be made compulsory in order to ensure that farmers are not only 'reacting' to schemes, but that also help farmers re‐think their environmental management practices. The Countryside Stewardship scheme should be further expanded because of its appeal to conservation‐oriented farmers and the resulting potential for sustainable environmental conservation of the countryside.

Based on a large transnational research project that involved questionnaires with 1000 farm households in nine EU countries and Switzerland, this paper investigates factors influencing farmers' participation in agri-environmental schemes (AESs). Analysis of motivations for AES participation highlights that complex patterns of AESs are in operation. Pronounced geographical differences in farmers' reactions towards schemes can be identified, with responses by farmers from northern member states often differing from those in Mediterranean countries, and with arable farmers often responding differently from grassland farmers. Yet, the study also highlights that much common ground exists and that conceptual frameworks for the understanding of farmers' participation in AESs developed in the United Kingdom can be successfully applied outside the British context. Common participation patterns include the importance of financial imperatives and 'goodness of fit', and the influence of similar sets of factors such as farm size, tenure, or farm type. The growing importance of conservation-oriented motivations for AES participation across Europe suggests the emergence of a 'new hypothesis' which highlights that the financial imperative for participation does not necessarily exclude an often equally important environmental concern. The paper concludes by indicating where current agri-environmental policy (AEP) may be failing adequately to address structural and socioeconomic characteristics of targeted farming populations, and by arguing that understanding participation decisionmaking is only the first step in an attempt to assess the 'effectiveness' of AEP. Further comparative research is needed to investigate in detail more complex indicators of scheme success, in particular what effects scheme participation has on farmers' incomes, farmers' environmental attitudes, and on the environmental quality of the countryside targeted by AESs.

The critique of indigenous forest management in New Zealand in this paper contextualises the discussion in light of recent Eurocentric debates on the transition towards 'postproductivist' and 'multifunctional' agricultural and forestry regimes. The research findings confirm recent criticisms of Australian writers with regard to the direct transferability of the notion of a transition towards postproductivism developed by European researchers and also lend support to Holmes's (2002) notion of productivist and postproductivist occupance. Long-standing productivist demands continue to be made on New Zealand's indigenous forests, especially from economically marginalised stakeholder groups who depend on the continuation of logging for economic survival. We argue that the tension between the recent adoption of a 'postproductivist' conservation policy at government level and the continuing 'productivist' attitudes among some stakeholder groups explains why the protection of remaining indigenous forests continues to be contested. The New Zealand findings also provide further evidence for those persons criticising the implied linearity and dualism inherent in the Eurocentric postproductivist transition model. We argue that processes at the New Zealand forest–farmland interface support Wilson's (2001) notion of a territorialisation of productivist and postproductivist territories into a 'multifunctional' territory. From a social constructionist perspective, the results highlight the fact that a clear separation into productivist and postproductivist occupance may not be easy to conceptualise as our view of agricultural land as 'productivist' territory and unlogged or sustainably managed indigenous forest as 'postproductivist' territory is largely based on a Euro–American 'deep green' view of unaltered 'nonhuman' nature. This supports Mather's (2001) suggestion that postproductivism should be cast as part of a shifting mode of social regulation of forestry with particular stakeholder groups constructing images of nature according to their interests, and where western ideas of nature as a (postproductivist) wilderness embody cultural politics which arguably serve to marginalise the interests of indigenous communities.

Tourism, especially in the European Alps, contributes to rural livelihood and depends on farming to preserve the landscape. The symbiosis is also expected to strengthen community resilience, conceptualized as a combination of economic, social, cultural, political and natural domains. The interplay of these domains may result in path dependencies driven by lock-in effects, beyond which controlled development is basically not possible. In our study of two villages in the Austrian Alps, we investigate how long-term development pathways affect the domains of community resilience in terms of path dependencies and lock-ins. A document analysis of a former Man and the Biosphere project from the 1970s, combined with recent qualitative expert interviews enabled us to draw a longitudinal picture of both villages that highlights strengths and weaknesses of each domain. Conclusions reveal that the different development pathways of the communities still result in similar economic, structural and political lock-ins that reinforce path dependencies. ; Version of record