Agriculture and Public Goods

Introduction 1. Agriculture and public goods 1.1. Institutional approach to public goods provision 1.2. A 'wider' approach on multifunctional agriculture 1.3. The CAP and the provision of public goods 1.4. A new model for public goods provision in rural areas 2. The role of collective action 2.1. Collective action: definition and characteristics 2.2. Barriers and benefits of collective action 2.3. Institutional arrangements 2.4. The role of social capital 2.5. A new approach to learning and innovation 3. Collective agri-environmental strategies 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Examples of collabourative agri-environmental schemes 3.3. Grass roots collective actions 4. The project "Custody of the Territory" in Media Valle del Serchio (Tuscany) 4.1. Case study overview 4.2. Local farmers as 'custodians of the territory' 4.3. Institutional arrangements 4.4. Benefits, barriers and potentialities of the scheme 5. The agri-environmental agreement in Valdaso (Marche) 5.1. Case study overview 5.2. The territorial agri-environmental agreement 5.3. The involvement of local farmers 5.4. Benefits, barriers and potentialities of the agreement 6. Collective action for public goods: institutional and policy innovation 6.1. The determinants of successful collective action 6.2. A pro-active engagement of farmers 6.3. The provision of public goods through collective action 6.4. Policy innovation for collective action Conclusions Appendix: methodology               Epistemological approach Participatory methods: an overview Data collection and analysis: Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) Overview of the RRA methods Grounded theory and analysis of the qualitative data Strengths and limitations of the proposed methodology The Interviews