Multifunctional agriculture – From farm diagnosis to farm design and institutional innovation

This special issue contains 9 papers presenting the results of a three-year joint project of the French Agricultural Research Institute (INRA) and the Dutch Wageningen University & Research Center. (WUR). The first paper reviewed the various scientific perspectives and research schools involved. Contributions to multi-functional agriculture (MFA) research are classified into four main categories of approaches, according to their main emphasis points in terms of governance mechanisms and scale levels, i.e. market regulation, land use approaches, actor-oriented and public regulation approaches. The second paper compares two approaches to analyse farming systems: the French activity system approach and the Dutch farming styles approach. The third paper elaborates on the fact that general European Union measures on MFA have a different impact on national level. A concise description is given of the institutional changes that took place in the Netherlands and France around the turning of the 20th century. A methodology to assess the accuracy of MFA indicators is presented in the fourth paper. Meanwhile, the fifth paper evaluated the contribution of modelling tools for strengthening MFA using four indicators, viz. policy relevance, temporal resolution and scope, degree to which spatial and social institutional scales and heterogeneity are addressed, and the level of integration in the assessment. In the sixth paper, it is argued that there is a need to describe and evaluate the landscape character of a region, in order to be able to assess the potential contribution of MFA, using the Friesian Woodlands as an example. The next paper describes a field study among the farmers in the Northern Friesian Woodlands revealing that organic farmers were internally motivated for nature conservation. The eighth paper provides a sociological appraisal of farmers' experiences with meadow bird protection in a dairy farming area in the Netherlands. The final paper, on the other hand, presents a study on the differences between extension and learning support in France and in the Netherlands.