Regional identity as a trigger for agricultural regional development

Regional development is receiving a lot of attention nowadays in European policy. A possible stepping stone to achieve regional development is regional identity. This paper investigates whether regional identity can contribute to the specific case of agricultural regional development. One possible way for agriculture to profit from regional identity is by diversifying farm activities. The paper shows that regional identity can stimulate farmers to take up diversification and can also stimulate inhabitants of the region to consume products directly from the farmer.