Introduction - Transition Pathways towards Sustainability in Agriculture: Case Studies from Europe - page 4

decreasing family farm succession, and a relative loss of the former hegemonic position of
agriculture in European societies. Land abandonment, in particular, has led to substantial
environmental challenges where insufficient labour remains to maintain fragile and work-
intensive structures such as dry stone terraces, complex irrigation systems or farm
woodlands. The relative economic marginalization of agriculture in Europe (accounting for
only 3 to 6% of GDP on average, excluding food processing) has been paralleled by an
increasing urban bias, with a tendency for funds, planning effort and stakeholder support to
be focused on improving livelihoods for urban rather than rural populations (Woods, 2005).
In parallel, increased competition related to globalization processes, the gradual
embeddedness of even the remotest European agricultural areas into global markets
(including new Eastern European EU member states) and the associated loss of localized
and often sustainable food production systems, have further affected the economic viability
of many rural areas. While pro-globalization commentators have suggested that increasing
globalization can lead to major economic advantages for rural areas (e.g. improved access
to funds and knowledge), anti-globalization proponents have highlighted how global
embeddedness often weakens local economic capital by crowding out small locally-based
producers, by creating vertical economic ties that weaken horizontal (within and between
communities) embeddedness, and by devaluing local production and quality (Gray, 2002;
Stiglitz, 2002; Woods, 2005). Transitions engendered by globalization often lead to an
increasing divide between wealthy and poor stakeholders in village communities, whereby
the 'winners' of globalization (i.e. those who are better vertically networked) are often able
to accumulate wealth that rarely trickles down to those who are less well networked
(Woods, 2005; Wilson, 2012). Globalization also leads to substantial changes in economic
activities in rural areas, most frequently away from low-input agricultural production
towards profit-driven services. This, in turn, often leads to further outmigration or to a
situation where potential farm successors must seek off-farm employment in the local area.
Globalization has also often been reported to change the socio-psychological setup of
rural areas. Indeed, formerly close-knit communities focused almost entirely on agricultural
production (that often required strong networks of trust and assistance) have now
increasingly become 'hybrid' communities with multiple economic pathways, of which
agriculture is only one of many. The outcome has often been a feeling of disassociation
between residents and communities, loss of community cohesion, and ultimately, loss of
community resilience (Wilson, 2010, 2012). Globalization - and associated policies linked
to the World Trade Organization - has increasingly allowed global competition to affect
what were traditionally local agricultural markets. Thus, today's rural areas i n Europe not
only have to face strong internal competition but are also increasingly exposed to global
market forces, reduction or abolition of previously protected agricultural markets, and
lower prices for agricultural goods which can be produced more cheaply in export-oriented
non-EU countries. As Potter and Tilzey (2005) argued, this has in many ways highlighted
the weaknesses of the 'European model' of agriculture based on highly subsidized, but
internationally uncompetitive, family farms. With the planned demise of direct agri-
environmental payments to European farmers, and the increasing pressure exerted by global
agricultural exporters such as the USA on European agricultural markets, for many
European farming regions it is only a question of time as to when farming will become
unprofitable - leading to a downward spiral of further farm abandonment and outmigration.
The case studies in this topic have been selected specifically to include more, and less,