Social agriculture as an example of social innovation emerging in rural areas and the role of public policy

Rural areas are faced with the rising demographic, economic and social challenges such as aging society, migration due to the attraction of cities, centralization of services or loss of jobs, in part triggered by the increasing mobility. It is argued that social innovation can support rural development and, therefore, it has become a very popular concept. Yet, its definition and understanding remain a highly debated issue. The paper presents the concept of social innovation as a vital element for supporting rural areas in facing their developmental challenges. The example of social agriculture shows how social innovation works and how it can contribute to both meeting social needs and efficient use of local resources. The methodology applied in the study consisted of both literature review and a case study. The literature review deals with the concept of social innovations, social agriculture as well as the importance of social innovations in rural development and the role of public policy in supporting social innovations in rural areas. The case study is part of a local project done in 2016/17 in the province of Bolzano, whereby the potential of social agricultural practices was analysed through a comparison between already existing social agricultural practices in Europe and interviews conducted with local farmers in the province of Bolzano. The paper argues that social innovations can support rural development and rural development policy has an important role to play in catalysing social innovations by creating empowering settings for rural communities.