FROM THE CONCEPT OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL AGRICULTURE TO THE MEASURE OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL FARMING

The objective of this paper is to deeply analyze some of the theoretical and methodological implications linked to the definition, the characterization, the evaluation and the estimation of the economic results of a multifunction agricultural farm. A deep study of these aspects seems essential for two reasons. On one hand, society is pressing farms to enlarge the existing set of goods and services; on the other hand, sector policies offer to farms new opportunities, which regard the allocation of services linked to the different functions that agriculture is able to carry out. In these conditions, in order to make the entrepreneur able to decide which services to set in motion, considering the economical input that their activation could bring to the farm, it is fundamental to identify an analytic method that is capable to estimate and evaluate the economic results of a multifunction farm.