The regional differentiation of the environmental aspects of agricultural multifunctionality in Czechia
Abstract
The Common Agricultural Policy, which is based on a European model of agriculture, has been implemented in Czechia since its accession to the European Union. This model is founded on the concept of multifunctional agriculture.
Under such model, agriculture involves not only production, but also non commodity outputs which serve to create positive environmental externalities. Ten years have passed since the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union, wherefore it is now possible to assess any changes Czech agriculture has experienced since that moment.
In this article, I discuss agricultural multifunctionality and the regional impacts of the applications of this concept. Multifunctionality attributes a variety of functions to agriculture and this article will primarily focus on agricultural functions related to environmental and landscape protection.
The article is therefore concerned with the environmental aspects of the multifunctionality of Czech agriculture. This multifunctionality is investigated on the level of districts, which represents the most detail territorial scale for which there is available statistical data.
The article endeavours to quantify the changes in environmental multifunctionality between 2005 and 2010 and to propose a summary indicator which could be based on a point method. The assessment of the development of environmental multifunctionality indicates the changes Czech agriculture experienced since the accession to the European Union.