This article discusses the economic dimensions of agroecological farming systems in Europe. It firstly theoretically elaborates the reasons why, and under what conditions, agroecological farming systems have the potential to produce higher incomes than farms that follow the conventional logic. This theoretical exposition is then followed by a presentation of empirical material from a wide range of European countries that shows the extent to which this potential is being realized. The empirical data draw upon different styles of farming that can be described as 'proto-agroecological': approaches to farming that are agroecological by nature, but which may not necessarily explicitly define themselves as agroecological. The empirical material that we present shows the huge potential and radical opportunities that Europe's, often silent, 'agroecological turn' offers to farmers that could (and should) be the basis for the future transformation of European agricultural policies, since agroecology not only allows for more sustainable production of healthier food but also considerably improves farmers' incomes. It equally carries the promise of re-enlarging productive agricultural (and related) employment and increasing the total income generated by the agricultural sector, at both regional and national levels. While we recognise that agroecology is a worldwide and multidimensional phenomenon we have chosen to limit this analysis to Europe and the economic dimension. This choice is made in order to refute current discourses that represent agroecology as unproductive and unprofitable and an option that would require massive subsidies.

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T he debate on multifuntionality in agriculture is inspired and informed by two sets of interests. First, the demands of European post-industrial society expressed as the need to restore sustainability in agriculture, guarantee food safety, and counter the inefficiencies of public interventions. Second, the growing need of many farmers to break with the 'industrialization' of labour processes entailed in the model of agricultural modernisation 1 .In many parts of Europe, industrialized farming systems can no longer be considered competitive when compared with those in the Third World, North America and/or Australia. This is partly for structural and institutional reasons and partly because of local territorial and ecological conditions. As a result, within European agriculture, it is possible to identify a search for and the construction of a new, general model for the development of rural areas.The main actors involved in this search and (re-)construction are farmers trying to renew their farms and find new roles in society so they can ensure their livelihoods secure their capital and maintain their entrepreneurial skills. In this multifacetted process the heterogeneity of entrepreneurial strategies and farming styles (van der Ploeg 1994) is particularly pronounced as new contexts are constructed for agricultural activities. In fact, rural development materializes in new approaches to and methods for resource-use, in new types of innovativeness and knowledgeproduction. It also implies the construction of new social and market relations between farms and those actors who intervene in or are linked to the development of rural areas (Iacoponi 1994). Multi-product farm-enterprises make up a rapidly expanding and promising segment of Italian agriculture and are a concrete expression of these new trends.In this article we will discuss the theoretical dimensions needed to understand the phenomenon of the (re-) emerging multi-product farm. We will then illustrate our argument with reference to one type of multi-product farm: the farm butchery in Umbria, Central Italy, a recent development that is now spreading throughout the area. We will give special emphasis to the socio-economic impact of this phenomena at farm-enterprise level and go on to show that the chance of augmenting added value at enterprise level is one of the driving forces behind this development.

The paper deals with the role of ICT and the related infrastructures to induce innovations for sustainable rural development. In particular, it focuses on the innovations induced by ICT in farms and in new rural firms, and on how digital infrastructures support and generate social innovation mechanisms, leading to the consolidation of entrepreneurship and dissemination of ICT-based innovation in rural areas. The hypothesis is that the presence of digital infrastructures generates a double effect: overcoming the concept of geographical proximity (relevant for remote rural areas) and promoting social innovation. In particular, this paper examines the role of social innovation to create a new demand for products, services and organisational models for farms and rural enterprises, promoting further innovation. To target the objectives, the work analyses three case studies of new business models (BMs) based on ICT innovation. The analysis focuses on the most important interactions, learning and organisational processes within the new enterprises and among the new farms/enterprises and the other economic and institutional actors, and on how they were shaped and changed by the use of ICT, relating them to a conceptual model. These three cases, although pioneering, are important since they give an original response to some of the main problems and needs of remote and inner rural areas, as for the access to high value segment of food market, the information deliveries about attractiveness of landscape and countryside for foreigners, investors and tourists and the creation of new stable relation with consumers/citizens in the urban areas. The three cases have been analysed with the aim to identify how the ICT, and the related innovations, create an interconnection between four characteristic elements of the BMs (value creation, supply chain, customer interfaces, financial model) and the restructuring of proximity dimensions (cognitive, institutional, social, geographical, organizational). The work shows how these three cases have several communalities, but also different aspects with respect to our objective of analysis: there are different ways in which the four characteristic elements of the BM are constructed and also different in the role that the different dimensions of proximity play in structuring the innovation process in each one of them. More generally, the results of the work also lead to consider a new role for public investments in ICT infrastructures: public administrations should intervene in order to create a coherence within projects of public and private initiatives.

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