International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 2 (2005) 190–204
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Divergent Images of Multifunctional Agriculture: A Comparative Study of the Future Images between Farmers and Agri-food Experts in Finland
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Minna Kaljonen1 and Pasi Rikkonen2
1Finnish Environment Institute, Research Programme for Environmental Policy, PO Box 140, 00251 Helsinki, Finland and 2MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Economic Research, Luutnantintie 13, 00410 Helsinki, Finland
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Abstract
In the latest reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) the EU has adopted a concept of multifunctional agriculture that should encourage farming to play several roles in society and contribute to the well-being of rural areas by managing the countryside and the environment. In this article we analyse the different interpretations of multifunctional agriculture by comparing the perceptions of future agriculture by the Finnish farmers and agri-food experts. For analysing different perceptions we use a concept of future image developed within future studies. The empirical material is collected with a survey. In the analysis we give special attention to the dialectics between desirable and probable futures as well as to the (dis)continuities between the views of the farmer and the expert respondents. On the basis of the descriptive analysis we identify the future challenges of agriculture both in terms of opportunities and threats and discuss their implications for the multifunctionality debate. We close the article by addressing the relevance of future studies for policy formation.
Keywords: agricultural policy, multifunctional agriculture, sustainable agriculture, future images, future studies
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