Agricultural Economics in the Context of Portuguese Rural Development - The Agricultural Economics of the 21st Century - page 121

However not all potentialities of multifunctional agriculture are already explored,
namely in peri-urban zones (Zasada 2011 ). In any case, the environmental concerns
related with rural evolution, namely for a sustainable development, played a crucial
role in the decisions for rural zones over the last few decades in many countries
(Howells et al. 1998 ). Agricultural activity can contribute to the mitigation of gas
emissions, namely in the sequestration of carbon (Branca et al. 2013 ). Curiously,
the ten countries of central and oriental Europe when joining the European Union
showed much interest, namely, in the European agricultural strategies related with
multifunctionality (Ramniceanu and Ackrill 2007 ). The multifunctionality of the
farming sector was, in addition, a question studied by Rossing et al. ( 2007 ), Zander
et al. ( 2007 ), Groot et al. ( 2009 ), Refsgaard and Johnson ( 2010 ), Hassink
et al. ( 2012 ), and Hassink et al. ( 2013 ). The intentional consumption of some
multifunctional goods and services from agriculture is dependent upon attitudes
and perceived attributes related with farms, the existing programs, the markets, and
the world environment (Moon and Griffith 2011 ). The neoliberal perspective for
recent negotiations in the context of World Trade Organizations can bring new
discussions about the multifunctional character of agriculture, considering the
intentions of becoming a farming sector-oriented market (Dibden et al. 2009 ).
The tradeoffs between the multifunctional farming and the new tendencies in
economic, social, and institutional organization were also analyzed by Labarthe
( 2009 ). Indeed, agricultural dynamics and rural development have so many spe-
cifics that adjusted strategies different to those implemented in other sectors are
sometimes needed. The spatial level of the multifunctional characteristics of agri-
culture is another discussion, but it seems correct to think that the base is the farm
and that later its effects are spread across both local and regional levels (Wilson
2009 ). The characteristics of the farm landscape were, also, considered as being a
crucial factor in the contribution towards agricultural multifunctionality for the
welfare of the society (Parra-L ´ pez et al. 2008 ).
The analysis of the economic dynamics depends upon other dynamics such as
those from social contexts. These social scenarios must be analyzed carefully in order
to avoid obtaining biased conclusions (Shortall 2008 ). The sociologic approach, with
participatory techniques, can provide an interesting contribution to the understanding
and the intervention in rural development, namely that with a sustainable evolution
(Magnani and Struffi 2009 ). The participation of local social and economic operators
in the design of rural strategies was, also, argued by Fleury et al. ( 2008 ). These
participatory approaches were also considered by Choisis et al. ( 2010 ) in the analysis
of mixed crop and animal farms in southwestern of France.
There are many factors that can influence the economic activity in rural zones,
but Bathrellos et al. ( 2013 ) identified factors related to geology, geomorphology,
and social, economic, and natural causes, as some of the most important causes.
Geology was, also, referred to by Bakri ( 2001 ) as having a determinant impact on
agricultural economic growth and rural development. On the other hand, Firmino
( 1999 ) identified implications from natural influences and human activity. Yong-fu
et al. ( 2013 ) found other determinants of agricultural activity such as intermediate
consumption, investment, the workforce, the area used, technical progress and