Agriculture and Public Goods: The Role of Collective Action

ISBN-13: 9789402402049 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 150 str.

Francesco Vanni

Opis

The debate on the future orientation of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is increasingly shaped by the role of agriculture in providing public goods, and there is a broad consensus that this approach will be particularly relevant in legitimating the policy intervention in agriculture in the future.In the context of this debate, it is not clear to what extent collective action could be taken into consideration as a valuable alternative to market or state regulation in contributing to the provision of public goods, and to what extent it is possible to design and implement agricultural policies that incorporate a collective and collaborative approach between different stakeholders in rural areas.Through an in depth analysis two case studies in Italy, the book provides insights to both the policy and the theoretical debate on the role of collective action for the public goods associated to agriculture. "

Spis treści

Introduction
1. Agriculture and public goods
1.1. Institutional approach to public goods provision
1.2. A ‘wider’ approach on multifunctional agriculture
1.3. The CAP and the provision of public goods
1.4. A new model for public goods provision in rural areas
2. The role of collective action
2.1. Collective action: definition and characteristics
2.2. Barriers and benefits of collective action
2.3. Institutional arrangements
2.4. The role of social capital
2.5. A new approach to learning and innovation
3. Collective agri-environmental strategies
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Examples of collabourative agri-environmental schemes
3.3. Grass roots collective actions
4. The project “Custody of the Territory” in Media Valle del Serchio (Tuscany)
4.1. Case study overview
4.2. Local farmers as ‘custodians of the territory’
4.3. Institutional arrangements
4.4. Benefits, barriers and potentialities of the scheme
5. The agri-environmental agreement in Valdaso (Marche)
5.1. Case study overview
5.2. The territorial agri-environmental agreement
5.3. The involvement of local farmers
5.4. Benefits, barriers and potentialities of the agreement
6. Collective action for public goods: institutional and policy innovation
6.1. The determinants of successful collective action
6.2. A pro-active engagement of farmers
6.3. The provision of public goods through collective action
6.4. Policy innovation for collective action
Conclusions
Appendix: methodology              
Epistemological approach
Participatory methods: an overview
Data collection and analysis: Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)
Overview of the RRA methods
Grounded theory and analysis of the qualitative data
Strengths and limitations of the proposed methodology
The Interviews

Blurb

The aim of this book is analyzing the role of collective action in the provision of agri-environmental public goods through agriculture at EU level, as well as providing policy recommendations regarding agri-environmental strategies based on collective and collaborative approaches. 

The European debate on the future orientation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is increasingly shaped by the role of agriculture in providing agri-environmental public goods, and there is a broad consensus that this approach will be particularly relevant in legitimating the EU policy intervention in agriculture in the future. Nevertheless, in the institutional and academic debate it is not clear to what extent collective action could be taken into consideration as a valuable alternative to market or state regulation to increase the environmental performance of agriculture, and to what extent it is possible to design and implement agricultural policies that incorporate a collective approach for the provision of agri-environmental public goods.

Could collective action be an important driver of workable solutions regarding the provision of agri-environmental public goods through agriculture? Which are the main drivers that stimulate the participation of farmers into collective action? How can government stimulate collective action? At which level of government collective action can be better stimulated? What kinds of policies are necessary to promote collective action?

The book aims at addressing these questions by exploring, through participatory methods, two case studies of collective action for the provision of agri-environmental public goods that have been recently developed in Central Italy. The in-depth analysis of these case studies was completed with a critical review of the literature, in order to provide some insights to the theoretical development on the role of collective action for the public goods associated to agriculture.