The role of marketing initiatives in rural development

Summary

This paper was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference of the Colloquium of Organic Researchers (COR).
European rural policy faces economic, environmental and demographic challenges. Its recent development has shifted emphasis towards agri-environmental schemes and support for organic farming, refinement of structural funding programmes, and Community Initiatives such as LEADER. At the same time, a transformation and refinement in consumer demand for food is leading to greater market emphasis on the health, environmental conservation and ethical qualities of products. An appropriate alignment of marketing systems, taking advantage of these trends, could also potentially benefit development in rural areas, with both economic and broader implications. This paper presents a framework for the study of organic marketing initiatives (OMIs), their interaction with the communities and overall environment of the regions in which they are located, with the aim of improving the capacity of organic agriculture to generate positive social, economic and environmental effects on rural development, which are of particular policy relevance in the peripheral, disadvantaged regions of Europe.