THEORETICAL AND POLICY BACKGROUND TO THE TOP-MARD PROJECT (TOWARDS A POLICY MODEL OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT)

The TOP-MARD project is a 3-year, 11 country, project supported by the EU’s Framework 6 Programme for Research and Technology Development1. The aim of the research project was to build a policy model of multifunctional agriculture and rural development which would link the multiple functions of agriculture with the development and quality of life of rural regions, and explore the influence of different policies on rural development outcomes. In order to deal with both market and non-market outputs, and to explore dynamics over time, a systems modelling approach was adopted