Agricultural Economics in the Context of Portuguese Rural Development - The Agricultural Economics of the 21st Century - page 120

significance. It is still, however, an original study, because it investigates the
implications of some structural characteristics of farms in terms of agricultural
output, such as agricultural employment and the number of farms with multi-
functional activities inside (mixed production with vegetal and animal activities,
forestry, services provision, and production of renewable energies) and outside
(with the income of the farmer household coming principally from external
sources). Other variables were also tested, namely related to other activities devel-
oped inside the farms, but without statistical relevance.
This study aims to be an important contribution towards Portuguese rural
development and comprehension of its dynamics, an instrument for private eco-
nomic operators in these regions and as a support for national and European public
institutions that design policies for Portuguese rural areas. It is important to find
new mechanisms that promote economic activity in these regions, namely those
that create employment.
2 Background Literature
Over the last two decades the discussion between European Union countries
changed from agricultural growth to rural development. Agriculture, derived from
several factors, began to be viewed as an activity that can and must be interrelated
with other economic dynamics in the rural zones (Hild ´ n et al. 2012 ). The reforms
of the European Union's agricultural policies brought a determinant increment to
the integrated rural progress perspective (Dwyer et al. 2007 ). Unwin ( 1997 )
defended these integrated possibilities as an interesting perspective for rural evo-
lution in some social and economic environments. Sometimes, these new strategies
collide with the existing agricultural practices and with the traditional covering of
the landscape (Pinto-Correia 2000 ). However, agriculture continues to be the most
important sector in rural areas, namely within European Union countries (Rizov
2006 ; Granvik et al. 2012 ). The territorial branding and the associated territorial
marketing are seen as important tools for the integrated rural development that can
have very important contributions in these rural processes (Mettepenningen
et al. 2012 ). The territorial branding can be used to promote, in an interrelated
way, the endogenous products (from agriculture, small industry, the landscape, etc.)
of the zone covered.
Multifunctional agriculture appears as an alternative for traditional productivity
farming. An activity is multifunctional for agriculture if it brings benefits to this
sector, if it helps to build a new paradigm within the farming sector, and if the
contributions facilitate the welfare of the whole population (Marsden and Sonnino
2008 ). Multifunctionality in agriculture means that despite the production function
of this sector, it can contribute to the economic, social, and environmental dynamics
through other activities (Renting et al. 2009 ). Heringa et al. ( 2013 ) identified the
following four different forms of multifunctionality in agriculture: environment
concerns, tourism, sustainable services, and sales in the farm direct to the consumer.