Innovation for Sustainability: Small Farmers Facing New Challenges in the Evolving Food Systems

Small farms represent important components of food systems and rural areas, as sources of occupation and livelihood, factors of socio-economic diversity, cradles of grass-roots innovation and experimentation. Their capacity to adapt and to contribute positively to societal challenges depends on the strategies they can develop and their ability to innovate. The book provides an in-depth exploration of the determinants, dynamics and outcomes of rural and agricultural change processes, with a special focus on the role of small and family farming. Covering both the system and the farm level of analysis, the authors offer a comprehensive view of approaches and models capable to grasp different complementary aspects of the development trajectories followed by farms, food systems and territories facing multi-dimensional drivers of change and exposed to a range of vulnerability factors. The emerging characters and roles of innovation networks and social learning, as well as the decision-making processes at the farm level are explored in particular depth, with attention to the multi-dimensional societal expectations vis-à-vis agriculture, small farms and rural areas, with specific attention to food and nutrition security concerns.

Gianluca Brunor studied Agricultural Science at University of Pisa. Recruited as research officer in 1986, in 1999 he became Associate Professor at University of Trieste. He is Full Professor of Food Policy, Bioeconomy and Wine Marketing at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the University of Pisa. He has 30 years of experience in Agricultural Economics, Rural Sociology and Food Policy, participating as Principal Investigator to several European Projects, in two of them (TRUC and GLAMUR) as scientific coordinator. He has been President of the Research Committee ’Sociology of Agriculture and Food’ of the International Sociology Association, vice-president of the European Society of Rural Sociology, Chief Editor of the journal Rivista di Economia Agraria and he is editor in chief of the journal Agriculture and Food Economics. He is the chair of the experts’ group of the 5th Foresight Exercise for the EU’s Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR).
Stefano Grandoholds a degree in Economics at ’La Sapienza’ University of Rome, a MSc in European Regional Development at the Cardiff University and a PhD in Agrarian Economics at the University of Basilicata. He has worked in several EU-funded projects with the Universities of Rome & ’La Sapienz’ Federico II of Naples and with the University of Pisa. He also worked in the field of monitoring and evaluation of EU-funded regional programmes. Currently he works for the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies in the agriculture and bioeconomy policy coordination area, and he is research fellow at the University of Pisa. On behalf of the Mipaaft he is deputy delegate to the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR). He has published articles in peer-reviewed journals and he is co-author of two books. His research fields include: rural development, rural sociology, food studies, agricultural and bioeconomy policy.