Reacting to the intensified contradictions of the capitalist food system, many agrarian activists seek to revitalize family labor farms, to make agriculture ecologically sustainable, to renew the social and economic life of rural communities, and to create an unalienated labor process. While the...

Multifunctionality is a multifaceted concept and the economic literature that treats the concept has mushroomed over the last couple of years. This paper surveys that literature. With respect to quantification of multifunctional production, it is concluded that jointness in production is at the...

The willingness to pay (WTP) for different types of elements and other environmental qualities of the agricultural landscape were investigated by a choice experiment study. To get value measures of a set of attributes as policy relevant as possible, the WTP for 28 levels of 12 attributes was...

This paper presents a methodology for developing state indicators, reflecting the provision of environmental public goods from agricultural landscapes. The methodology involves a structured use of meta-criteria and criteria for developing indicator variables and indicators, along with a coherent...

Organizing to promote sustainable rural development requires activists to connect social, economic, and environmental issues and to bring together disparate rural interest groups. This note describes a Swedish event — the 1994 Countryside Parliament (Landsbygds Riksdag) — that provides food...

Since the late 1960's, a mix of government policies has prevented the loss of farmland in Sweden, “either to forest or asphalt”; these policies have also ensured the maintenance of soil fertility and groundwater resources. However, in Sweden as in several other European nations, a chronic...

AllSweden Shall Live! is an umbrella movement of 2,300 rural development organizations that has taken shape in reaction to political and economic threats to “the living countryside.” The movement's strategy combines self-help activities and political mobilization. Ritual events celebrating a...