Migration, Agriculture and Rural Development

This open access short reader looks into the dynamics which have reshaped rural development and human landscapes in European agriculture and the role of immigrant people. Within this framework it analyses contemporary rural migrations and the emergence of immigrants in relation to the incorporation of agrarian systems into global markets, the European agricultural governance (CAP), and the struggle of local territories as differentiated practices in constant stress between innovation and resilience. It specifically explores the case of immigrant shepherds to describe the reconfiguration of agriculture systems and rural landscapes in Europe following intense immigration and the related provision of skilled labour at a relatively low cost. Being written in a very accessible way, this reader is an interesting read to students, researchers, academics, policy makers, and practitioners.

• Open access
• EU agro-pastoralism
• European Mediterranean
• European agricultural governance (CAP)
• TRAMed research
• Rural development
• Local agro-pastoral sector
• Sustainability
• Migrations
• Mediterranean agriculture
• Immigrant workers
• Agri-food chain

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Firenze, Italy

  Michele Nori

• Department of Political Sciences and Law, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

  Domenica Farinella

Michele Nori is a Tropical Agronomist (University of Florence – IT) with a further specialisation in Rural Sociology (PhD at Wageningen University – NL) and a specific expertise on the livelihood systems of pastoral communities. Through interfacing field practices, academic research and policy making levels, he has developed an ‘horizontal career’; this is based on more than 20 years’ collaborations in different regions of the globe with a number of organisations at different levels: civil society, UN agencies, research institutes, agricultural enterprises and donors offices, including the European Union Development Cooperation and its Delegations.

His list of publications ranges from scientific papers to technical notes to advocacy documents on matters related to sustainable agro-pastoral livelihoods and rural development. His current concern is to provide effective scientific evidence and policy advice on aspects of rural development, food security, natural resource management and rural migrations through sound analysis of field realities and practices.

Domenica Farinella is Lecturer in Economic Sociology at University of Messina (Italy) and Associate member of LCSP (Université Paris 7). She holds a Ph.D in Sociology of Innovation Process from the University of Naples Federico II (2004). Her recent research topics include: local and rural studies; change in pastoralism; multifunctionality in agriculture and new peasantries; informal economy and precariousness in the South of Italy; Mezzogiorno and Southern Question;  Public service, local governance, development policies.