Die Politik zur Entwicklung ländlicher Räume als 2. Säule der Agrarpolitik kann als Hybrid aus Agrar-, Umwelt- und Regionalpolitik charakterisiert werden. Die ausgeprägten vertikalen (EU-Bund-Bundesländer) und horizontalen Verflechtungen und das inhaltlich breite Maßnahmenspektrum der...

Agricultural, quality agro-food, supply-chain and rural districts were introduced by Italian law in 2001. With reference to European structural policies, especially rural development policy, and to the districts' originality and relationship to the LEADER method and programmes, we wonder whether...

Organic farming is increasingly promoted and supported at several levels for its capability of producing safe food and public goods. It can give an important contribution to attenuating the environmental pressure generated by conventional agriculture. This paper analyses possible determinants of...

Marginal rural areas are undergoing major pressures from the effects of globalization, especially when no alternative has been found to conventional extensive agriculture and a lack of investments and vision squeezes the income of farmers. The objective of the paper is to show how Integrated...

No-tillage is a farming system aiming at minimizing soil disturbance associated with the cultivation of arable crops. This technique, together with the practices of continuous soil cover and of crop rotation, also represents one of the elements of the so called Conservation agriculture, a...