ABSTRACT
There is a growing interest in the multi-functionality of rural space, in which both agricultural production and other functions are considered to be important. Option 4 is a special case of internalising amenities in farm economics. It represents the kind of internalisation in which economic decisions refer to amenities as benefits (economic resources) for the farm business. Internalising amenities in farm economics takes a different direction if negative effects to amenities from farm development/functioning are counted as a cost factor by the farmer. The combined 'cultivation' and economic exploitation of amenities is named Wider Farm Development (WFD). This chapter describes the peat-meadow district in the western part of the Netherlands as an example of WFD. This is presented as an endogenous process (born from within), from the perspective of farmers who try to maintain or enlarge their room for manoeuvre.
