Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
(Scotland); Plzeňský region (Czech Republic); Freiburg region (Germany); Montermor-o-
Novo (Portugal); Pays de Rennes (France); Pazardjik and Plovdiv (Bulgaria); and Imathia
(Greece). The goal was to convene a representative group of rural interests, including
researchers, to answer two central and sequential questions:
What is desirable for agriculture and other land-based activities for the region in
2030?
What needs to be done to achieve this desirable future in 2030?
These two questions were formulated with different concerns: (i) to make it possible to
create a distance from present conditions, construct visions which are detached from
present constraints, and which could result from radical changes (in other words
transitions); (ii) to think about a future which is far enough away to make a transition
possible, but still close enough to be relevant for those involved; (iii) to consider agriculture
as well as other activities that currently shape rural land use and the functioning of rural
communities; (iv) to identify the visions and also the pathways to enable visions to be
achieved; and (v) to identify the need for these pathways at different governance levels,
including the regional level where discussions were undertaken. The research team defined
the groups of participants to be considered according to the aims of FarmPath and the focal
processes. Potential groups included farmers (those who manage agriculture at the farm
level), including young farmers; those interested in and who manage other rural activities,
therefore also shaping the regional context for agriculture; and those who were responsible
for decision-making at the regional level. The final groups were:
Official Interests (OI). Individuals involved in government and non-government
activities related to rural issues such as; environmental organizations, farmers'
organizations, established NGOs, business associations, unions, local authorities and
national policy makers.
Run the Land (RL). Individuals implementing policies though land management,
therefore including farmers and land owners, hobby farmers, businesses associated
with agricultural production and those responsible for protected areas.
Young Farmers (YF). Farmers under 40 years of age who possess adequate skills to
set up an agricultural holding for the first time, or are the head of the holding. This
definition follows the one used in the EU rural development regulation. YF could be
aggregated in the RL group but the separation was intentional to enable an
assessment of whether age and accumulated experience in farming would generate
different perspectives.
Those Who Benefit from the Land (BL). This group included end users, recreational
users, health-related charities, community well-being and education practitioners,
social care workers, residential associations and consumer organizations.
Following this typology, individual stakeholders were contacted by the research team.
During the initial contact, FarmPath objectives were presented as well as the structure of
the approach (Fig. 12.1), and participants were advised on their role. This initial step was
followed by a semi-structured interview to better understand each participant's background ,
and their individual wishes for agriculture and land-based activities in the study region for
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