Resilience of Agriculture in a Rural-based Economic Development Model: the Local Systems of the Marches

The paper aims at giving a description of the actual territorial diffusion in the Marches of the integration between the structures of the agricultural activities and the ones of other industries, interpreting the different capabilities of farming to interact and integrate with industries, giving sense to local industrial agglomeration and development. For this purpose, we have considered the ‘geography’ of the regional territory in 31 LLSs (Local Labor Systems of ISTAT) gathering socio-economic statistical data and elaborating them in order to model the territorial patterns of integration between farming and non-agricultural industries. Results show the capability of farming to interact with local labor markets, integrating industrial culture and labor calendars. Results give also sense to the social resilience of agriculture and light regional industrialization, offering some suggestions to eventually get better rural and agricultural policies, from a territorial viewpoint