Farmers’ attitudes and landscape change: evidence from the abandonment of terraced cultivations on Lesvos, Greece

Abstract

Agricultural landscapes are the product of the interaction of the natural environment of an area and the practices of its farmers. In this paper, farmers' practices are examined in order to describe and understand processes of landscape change in terraced fields on the island of Lesvos, Greece. We examine the changes of the terraced fields of each farmer and the reasons for these changes, practices concerning the maintenance of terraces and how farmers view this landscape change. The concept of farming systems is used to link farmers' practices at the farm level with changes at the landscape level. Data come from research via questionnaires to farmers in order to record their practices, to explore changes in land use and the landscape elements and the reasons behind these changes, and finally to record their opinions on the landscape change that result. Findings indicate that although farm households in the case study areas depend on farming incomes by very different degrees, they employ similar cultivation and landscape management practices. At the same time, ''hobby'' farm households may be more prone to abandonment of fields and negligence of landscape elements (here terraces).

Rural Districts between Urbanization and Land Abandonment: Undermining Long-Term Changes in Mediterranean Landscapes

“…In the northern area, fallow land displays a more homogeneous distribution, associated to intensive cultivation models and viticulture, which is an important source of income for farmers [79,81]. In fact, Mediterranean olive plantations and vineyards were not abandoned since they guarantee economically-viable products [93]. For instance, an increased incidence of fallow land has occurred in recent years in the northern area, especially around Salonika.…”

“…However, since the 1990s, the economic support of farm holders has substantially decreased, leading to important changes in the agricultural sector. Correspondingly, the Greek agricultural system has undergone effective structural and functional transformations in recent years, possibly reflected in structure and composition of rural landscapes [93]. In addition, agro-environmental EU regulations have allowed the awareness of more conservative agricultural models, possibly devoted to extensive cropping systems, for example, based on vineyards and olive groves.…”

Relationship between man-made environment and slope stability: the case of 2014 rainfall events in the terraced landscape of the Liguria region (northwestern Italy)

“…As previously stated, in Mediterranean area, terraces induced deep anthropic landform changes on steep slope (Lasanta et al 2000;Varotto 2008;Kizos et al 2010), and have been recognized as a European cultural heritage (Varotto 2008;Arnaez et al 2011). In Italy, terraces are widespread features (Agnoletti et al 2011;Cullotta and Barbera 2011;Camera et al 2014).…”

An Exploration of Scenarios to Support Sustainable Land Management Using Integrated Environmental Socio-economic Models

“…Tenge et al 2005). In the same way, land managers may abandon existing conservation technologies due to substantial maintenance costs (Duarte et al 2008;Bellin et al 2009;Kizos et al 2010). Environmental conditions may play an important role in the adoption processes of SLM measures, as demonstrated by the very high uptake of no-till systems in sloping olive groves in Southern Spain where tillage is expensive (Franco and Calatrava 2012).…”