Agriculture multifunctionality: the contribution that the European primary sector can give to preserve and possibly to reinforce local cultural identities

In the framework of agriculture multifunctionality, the paper aims at giving some insights on the contribution that the European primary sector can give to preserve and possibly to reinforce local cultural identities. The ideas suggested hereafter are all grounded on the basic proposition that the link between the agricultural sector of a given area (that can be defined with the French word terroir) and its cultural identity is deep and that it is working in a double way. This means, for instance, that if, on the one hand, the peculiar agricultural techniques developed in a given environment are part of the local know how and give a contribution to the original knowledge capital of a local community; on the other hand, it is also true that the wider knowledge that represent the local cultural acquis influence, and somehow determine the local agricultural techniques and the overall organization of the primary production. A special focus is devoted to the role that, under these regards, is played by the additional functions of agriculture that accompany the primary one.

Keywords: Agriculture, multifunctionality, territorio cultural identity, rural areas

Anna Carbone, La multifunzionalità dell’agricoltura europea: riflessioni sul contributo del settore primario alla costruzione dell’identità culturale in "AGRICOLTURA ISTITUZIONI MERCATI " 1,2/2009, pp 133-144, DOI: 10.3280/AIM2009-001010