The Evolution of Multifunctional Agriculture in Italy
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The root towards multifunctional farming in the Italian farms
Multifunctional farming is important concept, many studied reported on this concept.
This topic already discussed and published in Italy like:
Sivini, S.; Vitale, A. Multifunctional and Agroecological Agriculture as Pathways of Generational Renewal in Italian Rural Areas. Sustainability 2023, 15, 5990. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15075990
The MS based on the agricultural economic has many problems such as
1- the title?
What does mean “The root towards” which root? Please change into the correct word?
2- Keywords: please don’t repeat ant word already mentioned in the title like multifunctional farming???
3- About the Introduction is not accepted please and should be written again due to
The author started with “This paper deals with…..” the authors should write 3 paragraphs on the following topics:
multifunctional farming, Italian farms, and problem of Italian rural agriculture
The introduction section must include very updated refs. and this not found??
The list of refs. (39 refs. about 5 during the last years and the rest are very old, please update??
4- Materials and Methods needs a map for the studied are and their coordinations
The statistical analysis must add to the section of Materials
5- Results, this is very bad and totally not accepted
All results are presented in Tables (NOT well formatted), the results should be presented in some figures with suitable manner
6- NOT acceptable to add the section of conclusion (which already is very poor written) to discussion section, please separate
This MS needs a major revision
The root towards multifunctional farming in the Italian farms
Multifunctional farming is important concept, many studied reported on this concept.
This topic already discussed and published in Italy like:
Sivini, S.; Vitale, A. Multifunctional and Agroecological Agriculture as Pathways of Generational Renewal in Italian Rural Areas. Sustainability 2023, 15, 5990. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15075990
The MS based on the agricultural economic has many problems such as
1- the title?
What does mean “The root towards” which root? Please change into the correct word?
2- Keywords: please don’t repeat ant word already mentioned in the title like multifunctional farming???
3- About the Introduction is not accepted please and should be written again due to
The author started with “This paper deals with…..” the authors should write 3 paragraphs on the following topics:
multifunctional farming, Italian farms, and problem of Italian rural agriculture
The introduction section must include very updated refs. and this not found??
The list of refs. (39 refs. about 5 during the last years and the rest are very old, please update??
4- Materials and Methods needs a map for the studied are and their coordinations
The statistical analysis must add to the section of Materials
5- Results, this is very bad and totally not accepted
All results are presented in Tables (NOT well formatted), the results should be presented in some figures with suitable manner
6- NOT acceptable to add the section of conclusion (which already is very poor written) to discussion section, please separate
This MS needs a major revision
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The article is excellent that it presents some good pathways to sustainable rural development through multifunctional agricultural strategies. Before proceeding to acceptance for publication some suggested points should be considered for improvement.
1. Describe clearly the focused research problem, targeted research questions and specific objectives.
2. Some topic-related latest articles are overlooked to cite, please consider citing them and elaborate the difference between your work from previously published work.
e.g.
Sivini, S.; Vitale, A. Multifunctional and Agroecological Agriculture as Pathways of Generational Renewal in Italian Rural Areas. Sustainability 2023, 15, 5990. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15075990
Rovai, M.; Andreoli, M. Combining Multifunctionality and Ecosystem Services into a Win-Win Solution. The Case Study of the Serchio River Basin (Tuscany—Italy). Agriculture 2016, 6, 49. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture6040049
Viaggi, D. (2011). The future role of agriculture in multifunctional rural development: The case of Italy. APSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce, 5(1033-2016-84128), 15-22.
Marzban, S., Allahyari, M. S., & Damalas, C. A. (2016). Exploring farmers’ orientation towards multifunctional agriculture: Insights from northern Iran. Land Use Policy, 59, 121-129.
3. Describe the extent and boundaries of this research, What farm size to what level was considered and are these strategies useful for small-scale forms.
4. In conclusion, clearly describe the findings and their impact and usefulness for farming communities of different levels/ categories.
5. Improve references by including relevant latest studies.
6. Multifunctional farming is a multitasking approach, what will be the role of various institutions and stakeholders?
Minor improvements are required that would be covered by the editorial office.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript entitled "The root towards multifunctional farming in the Italian farms" is very interesting, and the issues it deals with are current. The multifunctionality concept served as a catalyst for long-term agricultural development. However, it still has some issues that need to be addressed.
The authors pointed out that the purpose of this paper is to examine the dynamics of farms, their economic performance, and the transition from conventional to multifunctional agriculture during the period encompassed by a strengthened rural development policy for rural diversification. However, I believe that the introductory part should more clearly emphasise the goals and tasks of the manuscript that are realised through the obtained results.
Considering that the topic mentioned is very current, there are numerous recent research studies and case studies from other countries that the authors did not mention in their work. Therefore, I believe that it is necessary to supplement the overview of the ruling positions in this scientific field and include a larger number of recent references.
In the conclusion and discussion, the authors refer to other sources of literature more than they present the concrete results of their research.
It is necessary to expand the discussion while highlighting the theoretical and practical contributions of the conducted analyses.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
1. Literature review on multifunctional farming research needs to be supplemented.
2. Only the data of 2010 and 2020 were used for multiple regression to observe the evolution trend. You can consider adding another two more years of data to enhance the reliability of the results.
3. Whether the residuals deviating from the distributional normality affects the accuracy of the results can be further elaborated (Line 273).
4. In accordance with the above definition (Line 158), is it reasonable for strategies of both differentiation and diversification to decrease in specialized agricultural contexts (Table 3).
5. It is not clear about which variables are structural variables and which ones are economic variables (Line 389). It can be explained after Table 1.
6. Subsections 3 of the results section are isolated from 1 and 2.
7. The expected study effects as mentioned above (Line 266) were not obviously embodied in the results.
8. It is suggested to further supplement the detailed policy recommendations based on the regression results.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Second round
Many thanks for the corrections, but not enough, due to the following reasons:
1- Introduction section:
We asked: The introduction section must include very updated refs. and this not found??
Your answer: Absolutely agree, we have completely reviewed the introduction and articulated it in two .sections, first two paragraphs, by enriching them with update references
This is not true, please
Your introduction section contains only 10 refs. you did arrange as we asked without any significant addition or changes and now any new refs. updated (in 2023 or 2022) were added????
You added only one new ref. (2009) very old??? Please write new paragraphs including new refs. in 2023 and 2022 or even 2021???
Many new refs. the authors added in other sections in the revised MS and they are very old and not accepted?? Please update in entire MS???
2- Many thanks for adding some figures, but please any figure should include SE bar and Duncan letter of statical analysis
3- What is this section:
2. Multifunctional farming as key strategy for the Italian agriculture
Is that belonging Introduction or materials sections?
Clarification is needed please????
The MS still needs major revision
thanks
moderate editing
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear authors,
Thank you for adopting the suggestions and revising your manuscript according to the recommendations. I consider this work suitable for publication in the journal Sustainability in its current form.
Author Response
Thank you for your appreciation.
Reviewer 4 Report
The revised version have fully addressed my review comments.
Author Response
Thank you for your appreciation.
Round 3
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors\
MS from Sustainability
you can accept the revised MS after the 3rd round
Note: some tables are empty
Figure 2. Average values of Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) in 2020 (hectares).
the author must correct OR delete it
there are 3 empty tables!!! Why and How? must be delete it
MS from Sustainability
you can accept the revised MS after the 3rd round
Note: some tables are empty
Figure 2. Average values of Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) in 2020 (hectares).
the author must correct OR delete it
there are 3 empty tables!!! Why and How? must be delete it
Author Response
Thank you for your observation, we are sorry, in the previous version we have deleted the content and not the tables, now we have deleted them.
