In the literature on agricultural restructuring and transformation of the rural economy, a shift from productivist to post-productivist agriculture/farming or more generally, and less specifically, an ideological change from productivism to post-productivism is often mentioned, or used as framework for discussion of more specific issues.

In reality such changes are seldom neither clear nor sharp, and a number of socio-economic processes are at work at the same time. This is also, to a wide degree recognized in the European Union’s Rural Development Program 2007-13, with three axes supporting respectively agriculture (axis 1), nature and environment (axis 2) and rural communities/quality of life (axis 3). In addition, a fourth axis, namely the LEADER approach, supports “area-based rural development strategies” and innovative approaches to integrating projects from the other three axes. In this partnership based bottom-up approach, means are being distributed by “local action groups”.

In a critical literature review, carried out in connection with a comparative study of LEADER practices across EU member states, we argue that the productivist vs. post-productivist dichotomy is rarely useful, and that the concept of multifunctionality, developed within the framework of landscape ecology fits better with the LEADER-approach. We further argue that the multifunctionality concept can be applied from farm to landscape level, and be useful as analytical framework as well as for structuring and guiding development plans.

Key words: productivism, rurality, multifunctionality, rural development, LEADER, Europe