Joint production and multifunctionality in agriculture: Case studies of small farms on the island of Sicily

Abstract

Starting in the 1970s, agriculture in Western countries began to progressively lose the critical success factors on which it based its competitive advantage, which was localization. The development of both the food industry and organized distribution, the intensification of trade, and the speed of information transfer led to new needs and new scenarios within which new agricultural systems emerged. This research analyzed the changes imposed on the agricultural system by the economic development process and determined the trajectories taken by some agricultural entrepreneurs. The study shows that those agricultural entrepreneurs who have been able to adapt their business strategy to the new production scenarios that have emerged remain competitive in the market, while those who have been passively affected by economic development have resulted in agriculture that in many ways only manages to survive thanks to the contribution of the Common Agricultural Policy and without which it would be ousted from the market.