LIBRI DI ANDREA ARZENI

This article aims to contribute to the debate about the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), on how to make it more usable, useful and reliable, both for research users and practitioners when studying policy assessment. Ten years ago, the Italian National Rural Network published a highly relevant report about FADN data use for Rural Development policy evaluation, providing a wide range of examples of its application. The report had the merit of providing a comprehensive and systematic overview of FADN uses for evaluation for the first time and not only for impact assessment.From this experience, this paper examines how the different Managing Authorities in Italy have used FADN data for the evaluation of the current 2014-20 Rural Development Programmes: how actually the database has been used in the Annual Implementation Reports, with a focus on indicators for competitiveness assessment. The paper highlights some recommendations, considering the next programming period and the application of the so-called New Delivery Model.

Il volume, frutto della collaborazione AISRe-CREA, ripercorre le riflessioni sviluppate negli ultimi anni sui temi della sostenibilità e dell’innovazione dei sistemi agricoli locali, nelle aree interne del Paese. Il volume manifesta una visione in cui le aree interne, rurali e remote, soggette ad un aggravio dei costi per le attività agricole connessi agli svantaggi morfologici ma anche ricche di biodiversità, sono un target ideale verso cui far convergere l’azione delle diverse policy territoriali. Si è quindi molto vicini nel “Riportare la natura nella nostra vita” così come indicato dalla Commissione europea per la strategia della biodiversità per il 2030 e che nell’attuale periodo di transizione offre nuove opportunità di sviluppo.

Il Censimento dell’agricoltura del 2010 offre un quadro informativo articolato delle aziende agricole e delle loro molteplici configurazioni organizzative, dimensionali e produttive. Attraverso una semplice metodologia di classificazione tipologica, il lavoro propone una lettura dei risultati censuari distinguendo le aziende dalle imprese, su diversi livelli di crescente orientamento imprenditoriale. L’obiettivo principale è identificare e localizzare a livello comunale diverse tipologie di aziende/imprese. I risultati dell’analisi confermano il legame dei fattori locali con la diffusione e la crescita delle imprese, tuttavia vi sono anche altre evidenze che stimolano una riflessione sul ruolo delle politiche per lo sviluppo agricolo e rurale

Agriculture plays a relevant role in most green economy issues which will be discussed in the next conference on sustainable development at Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20). Food security, water, disaster risks, are the most related issues but the contribution of agriculture will be wider and horizontal. In the European context, policies have implemented many of the priorities of sustainable development, linking them to the characteristics of the territories and with strategic objectives of EU. In particular, around 2000, the concept of rural development was born as the recognition of the role of agriculture not only as a productive sector but also as a growth factor for a balanced and integrated development of rural areas. Farming became again one of the components of the local development of those territories where there has not been an evident development of the industrial or service sector. Concretely, farmers receive a financial support if they demonstrate to perform activities that directly or indirectly benefit the environment and this is a payment for the supply of a public good of collective interest. The message addressed to the farmer is clear: it is not only important that he/she is able to produce but what is even more important is the quality of the product and the sustainability of the process adopted. This is not just a different approach to business, but a cultural change that is difficult to spread especially because of the low presence of young people in agriculture but also because public support cannot ensure an adequate remuneration. The green component of agriculture is encountering difficulties to take off, overwhelmed by the historical structural problems aggravated by the current crisis. This article discusses the main agricultural pressures on the environment and analyses some related economic activities that can be considered as examples of the green component of the rural development.

Sviluppo rurale e approccio distrettuale. Analisi e prospettive per un modello di sviluppo economico diversificato ABSTRACT: Food supply is not the present main role of European agriculture, because it is assured by international trade, but the new objective is the sustainable land management. Actually the territory can’t only be considered as a container of economic activities but it is a capital to manage and exploit, by promoting productions and other human activities. This active role of the territory for the socio-economic development is evident in the law of agriculture modernization and orienting, that introduces two different territorial entities: the rural district and the agro-food quality district. The rural district is quite different from the concept of industrial district because it is not based on geographical concentration and specialization of production but its main characteristic is horizontal integration. Mainly, the rural district can be considered as a governance approach to manage the territory based on public and private cooperation. In the rural district approach there is the complexity of a reality, not only economic but social and environmental, so there are elements in conflict with some developing interests of a territory that can block its effective application.