Agri-environmental Stewardship Schemes and ‘Multifunctionality’ 339was the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, established in 1991. The 1992 Mac-Sharry
CAP reforms began to weaken the links between production and farm income sup-
port, and were followed with financial assistance packages to UK farmers to convert
to organic agriculture or accomplish a variety of environmental outcomes.
Multifunctionality
Building on the experiences of the 1980s and 1990s, EU member states are now
shaping a new generation of agri-environmental policies based upon the concept of
multifunctionality (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).
Agriculture is inherently multifunctional – it does more than just produce food, fibre,
oil and timber (Food and Agriculture Organization, Whitby). It has many functions
or purposes, thereby potentially producing a wide range of outputs or services.
Agriculture that depletes organic matter or erodes soil while producing food
externalizes costs that others in society must bear; but one that sequesters carbon
in soils through organic matter accumulation contributes to both the global good
by mediating climate change and the private good by enhancing soil health (Pretty
et al, 2000, 2002). Similarly, a diverse agricultural system that protects and
enhances on-farm wildlife for pest and disease control contributes to wider stocks
of biodiversity, while simplified modernized systems that eliminate wildlife do not
(Costanza et al, Doran and Werner, Pretty et al, 2001, Pretty, 2002).
Multifunctionality suggests agriculture can deliver valued nonfood functions
that cannot be produced by other economic sectors. Much of the apparently ‘natu-
ral’ biodiversity in Europe is the result of centuries of farming, and agriculture has
created and shaped the landscape and countryside. There are many other positive
side effects of agriculture, including values derived from aesthetic appreciation;
recreation and amenities; water accumulation and supply; nutrient recycling and
fixation; wildlife, including agriculturally beneficial organisms; and storm protec-
tion and flood control. The idea that agriculture provides these other types of
goods and services is not new, of course, and, in itself, is not controversial. The
controversies surround how this concept is translated into policies.
Several major challenges face policy makers in restructuring agricultural support
based on the multifunctionality perspective. With multifunctionality centre-stage in
EU agricultural policy discussions, support to farmers increasingly will be tied to
stewardship and other social objectives, rather than to food and fibre production.
Admittedly, agricultural policies have frequently served several public policy objec-
tives. Figure 18.1 illustrates how different agricultural policies rest along intersecting
continuums. Some policies serve primarily to support food and fibre production
objectives, some support primarily stewardship (environmental) objectives and oth-
ers support particular social objectives. In addition, some may support a combina-
tion of two or all three of these objectives. The challenge to multifunctionalists that
we focus on in this article is how to make the transition from production (top of the
triangle in Figure 18.1) to stewardship policies (lower right-hand corner).