M. LANFRANCHI1, C. GIANNETTO1, T. ABBATE1 and V. DIMITROVA2
1 University of Messina, Department of Economics, Business, Environmental and Quantitative Methods, 75 98122 Messina, Italy
2 University of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Management, BG-4003 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
LANFRANCHI, M., C. GIANNETTO, T. ABBATE and V. DIMITROVA, 2015. Agriculture and the social farm: expression of the multifunctional model of agriculture as a solution to the economic crisis in rural areas. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 21: 711–718
The aim of this paper is to portray the main features and characteristics of the social farms and to examine how these organizations can contribute to the definition and the implementation of new pathways of change in rural areas, providing several benefits for individual with specific needs and local community. This close analisys addresses conceptual issues useful to understanding the main activities and initiatives to better answer to the needs of different involved actors, such as individuals, farmers, and local community.