Social dimensions of multifunctional agriculture in Europe - towards an interdisciplinary framework

Abstract

Agriculture is embedded in and interacts with both its ecological and social environments. Under the concept of ‘Multifunctional Agriculture’, these interactions receive attention from scientific and political communities in terms of societal functions that can be fulfilled by farms. The discourse has focused on ecological functions, while agriculture’s social contributions are frequently mentioned but not systematically addressed. Accordingly, respective empirical results remain fragmented and applied conceptual approaches barely integrated. To address this research gap, we conducted a systematic literature review on the social functions of European agriculture. Our analysis (a) disentangles different definitions and categorizations of social functions found in the literature; (b) proposes an interdisciplinary framework and categorization that eases the linkage of relevant insights from different conceptual viewpoints; and (c) paves the way for the differentiated recognition and governance of the diverse social functions potentially delivered by farms and their activities in the European context.