Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
CRIE Montado has contributed to the sustainability of agriculture by: (i) reinforcing
the adoption of environmental actions by members in their own farm businesses (often
linked to organic farming but also to new activities which are orientated towards
sustainability, such as eco-camping or educational projects about sustainable farming); (ii)
following and implementing the proposition of Jan Huijgen's multifunctional farms
(Postema and Ziel, 2008), which calls for a re-invention of urban-countryside relations,
sustainable farming, community development and a more humane, creative and balanced
territorial rural development through knowledge exchange and lobbying; and (iii)
developing and implementing a novel notion of multifunctionality with regard to the
Montado system, thereby providing a new vision for regional sustainability with a system
that has been increasingly recognized as traditional “well-adapted economically viable
multiple-use agroecosystems for promoting sustainable modern development in many
farming areas of the Mediterranean Basin” (Blondel, 2006:725). The Montado system has
shown remarkable stability and sustained productivity over a period of 800 years or longer,
and is characterized by high biodiversity. CRIE Montado's potential contribution to the
regional sustainability of agriculture lies not only in the ecological but also in the social and
institutional dimensions (regarding the informal social institutions evolving as the group's
collaboration becomes more established). However, the initiative has had only limited
impacts to date.
The contribution by machinery rings to sustainability of agriculture in the north-east
and Borders regions of Scotland is primarily an economic and institutional contribution; it
provides a mechanism that helps to sustain the economic viability of farms through reduced
costs and greater efficiencies in terms of access to agricultural inputs across these regions,
whilst at the same time facilitating agricultural 'management' at a regional level. Farmer
collaboration through machinery rings provides a number of opportunities, including: (i)
resource sharing, which helps farmers to reduce their fixed costs and to reduce over-
capitalization and business risk in the agricultural sector; (ii) labour services, whereby
additional income can be generated through labour supply (by individuals or farms),
additional labour can be easily accessed (demanded) and employment opportunities are
provided through the ring; (iii) trading of commodities, which helps farms to access
benefits associated with economies of scale - which is particularly important for smaller
farmers; and (iv) training accessible to members. Although as a mechanism, machinery
rings are fundamentally based on collaboration and generation of social capital across the
regions, the consequences for social sustainability are mixed - including positive and
negative effects on agricultural labour. For example, rings provide a means for young
farmers to find work and gain experience in the sector; but at the same time, rings facilitate
lower retained labour on farms, as farmers can access the ring's labour pool on demand.
Whereas machinery rings currently make an important contribution towards the economic
and social aspects of the regional sustainability of agriculture, their impacts on
environmental sustainability are mostly limited. However, there are specific examples
where contributions are currently being made (for example in the development of
renewable energy production) and opportunities have been identified for machinery rings to
coordinate smaller scale collaborations for the purposes of implementing local or
landscape-scale policies relating to the environment, therefore also potentially making a
greater contribution in the future in that regard.
The Regionalwert AG Freiburg initiative contributes to the three dimensions of
regional sustainability of agriculture (ecological, economic and social) in several ways.
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