Social Farming in Germany: Multifunctionality of Agricultural Farms

Abstract

For several decades, rural areas have been the scene of profound changes in their mission for agriculture, both general and structural. This change is mainly due to the opening up of agricultural holdings, which itself stems from various new economic and social realities. The integration of initially unskilled people into food production and the local environment has led to the emergence of a so-called Social Farming, which under certain circumstances generates additional sources of income. With the theoretical background of the changed structures in agriculture and regard to multifunctionality, the aim of this paper is to show the consequences on the structure of the farms themselves, to analyse the evolution of income generation as well as to investigate possible connections between both.