Linking farming systems to landscape change: An empirical and spatially explicit study in southern Chile

An overview of farming system typology methodologies and its use in the study of pasture-based farming system: a review

“…There is a wide diversity of farming systems among a group of farms, not only on a large-scale in terms of geographic space but also within restricted rural areas or more oriented types of these systems (Castel et al, 2003(Castel et al, , 2010Carmona et al, 2010;Van de Steeg et al, 2010). Then, a farming system includes the conjoint use of crops, grass and livestock (Engledow et al, 1978) and in order to synthesize, it can be defined as an economic and agricultural concept holistically describing (as a whole, based on a set of many variables and indicators) a farm household in terms of agricultural land use, i.e., the systems of crop and livestock production, non-agricultural economic activities of farm household members (on-farm and off-farm activities), the income generated and the structure.…”

“…Moreover, the natural, social, economic, infrastructural and institutional resources and environments that determine all economic activities occurring in the farming system should be considered (Kostrowicki, 1977;Keating & McCown, 2001;Köbrich et al, 2003;Bertaglia et al, 2007). As a level of organization, farming systems mediate the relationship between farmers and the landscape by bringing together biophysical, economic, social, cultural, and political factors that constrain or promote the land use and land cover change (Carmona et al, 2010;van de Steeg et al, 2010).…”

“…Assessment of the diversity of farming systems and their typology in rural areas can be performed using expert methods (Clavel et al, 2011) or analytical methods (Riveiro-Valiño et al, 2008;Carmona et al, 2010). The expert methods were the first to be used as tools in order to def ine concrete areas (Escobar & Berdegué, 1990) and are based on skilled knowledge supported by land cover maps, which guide researchers or agricultural extension experts, and all available official synthetic information collected by state and local administrations (Clavel et al, 2011).…”

“…Taken into account that a classification should be made from tests of the data rather than by f irst arbitrarily def ining the groups and then f itting the individual farms to them (Escobar & Berdegué, 1990), the expert methods have frequently been replaced by more formal and reliable analytical (statistical) methods, referred to as analytically based farming system typology or statistical farming system typology (Köbrich et al, 2003;Lesschen et al, 2005) or has been used as complementary tools together with analytical methods (Carmona et al, 2010;van de Steeg et al, 2010;Clavel et al, 2011). However, sometimes, an expert method can also be the subject of statistical analysis (Caballero et al, 2008).…”

Evolution of some Mediterranean landscapes of Central Italy from historical aerial photographs

“…Some landscapes can have a recent origin but they can represent the history of a population. It is also desirable to identify and implement those landscape policies invoked by ELC for landscape protection in a perspective of sustainability, but tradition and sustainability (considering its comprehensive meaning), not always overlap (Bouma, 1998;Carmona, 2010;Antrop, 2005;Angelstam, 2013, Puddu et al, 2009Vos, 1999;Recanatesi, 2010;Antrop, 2006). Actually the ELC is aimed "… to promote landscape protection, management and planning, and to organize European co-operation on landscape issues", but does not suggest methods or criteria to be adopted.…”