Multifunctional agriculture: an analysis of country specialization and regional differentiation

Abstract

Member States acknowledge the multifunctional role of the primary sector; however each of them emphasises specific functions according to its own model of agriculture and rural development. As a result, the CAP and the demand of citizens addressi ng a new role of the primary sector in post-industrial s ociety have contributed to develop a specialisation of multifunctionality at the EU level that is more and more visible moving from an aggregated territorial level (Member Stares) toward a local one (regions). The objective of this paper is to analyse the specialization towards the secondary functions of agriculture at two different territorial and instit utional levels: the national level (EU-25) and the regional level (in Italy), with the support of a double-step multi variate analysis (principal component analysis and cluster analysis). The analysis shows that, downscaling the territorial level, a more detailed specialisation t owards the secondary functions of agriculture emerges. Thi s is due to the crucial role of the interactions of the agricultural activity with the social and environme ntal context but also to the CAP that is more and more decentralised at the territorial level.