Land Consolidation Associations and the Management of Territories in Harsh Italian Environments: A Review

Abstract

Abstract:Land fragmentation is a phenomenon that reduces the mechanical management of agricultural and grazing lands and, consequently, leads to the abandonment of agricultural practices in harsh environments. It puts the agricultural and/or agro-pastoral businesses in a difficult situation as they have small surfaces to manage that do not allow for sufficient profit. Some worldwide land consolidation initiatives have been set up to reduce this phenomenon, such as land funds. In this context, this paper is dedicated to an Italian approach, which can be carried over to other realities, aimed at safeguarding and managing territories in harsh environments. This approach, known as the "Associazione Fondiaria (ASFO)", which can be roughly translated as "land consolidation association", consolidates small portions of abandoned land in a functional manner. Indeed, a land consolidation association not only stimulates new entrepreneurial agricultural activities, but is also able to create employment in depressed areas. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis was used to evaluate ASFOs, and their peculiarities were discussed.

Analysis of Ownership Data from Consolidated Land Threatened by Water Erosion in the Vlára Basin, Slovakia

“…In 2010, the average size of a farm in Europe was 14.1 ha, but in countries such as Denmark and the United Kingdom this figure was over 60 ha. Italy has extensive fragmentation with farms averaging 7.9 ha in size, more than what had been recorded for agricultural land in Slovenia (6.5 ha), Croatia (5.6 ha), Greece (4.8 ha), Romania (3.4 ha), and Cyprus (3.0 ha), the lowest among all 28 EU states [32].…”

A cluster approach to the formation of tourism destinations in Western Ukrainian cross-border regions

“…Many foreign and Ukrainian academics consider effective internal management of available resources to be decisive in the development of an area. Issues of regional development, investment attraction, resource provision, the formation of competitive advantages, economic zoning and state regional economic policy in new economic conditions are covered in the works of Algieri, Aquino, Succurro (2018); Beltramo, Rostagno, Bonadonna (2018); Bobrovska, Krushelnytska, Latinin, Lypovska, Dreshpak (2017); Melnik (2018); Mazaraki (2019); Oteshova et al (2020); Stasiak (2007); Varnalius (2005), etc. Thus Varnalius, in particular, believes that the resource potential of a region is "the main basis for the formation of a mechanism for the realization of its economic interests" (Varnalius, 2005, p. 78).…”

Quality and origin of mountain food products: the new European label as a strategy for sustainable development

“…In line with Article 18, mountain areas are perceived as marginal territories with high cultivation costs and low yield potential that provoke a decrease of the economic activities of farms. These conditions of disadvantage led to the abandonment of these territories, depopulation, and agricultural decline (MacDonaldet al 2000;Tzanopoulos et al 2011;Beltramo et al 2018). However, mountain areas, despite several limitations, provide positive externalities and opportunities.…”