Research Themes on the Agricultural Policy of the European Community

Bowler, Ian

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9663.1986.tb00136.x

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 42 publications

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“…Land Use in the Past Land use under productivist agriculture (i.e. maximising production) in the EU has been subjected to extensive study in a number of disciplines and reviewed by Bowler (1986). By the mid-1980s the agricultural land-use struc ture of the EU was dominated by cereals (27% of the utilised agricultural area) and permanent meadow/pasture (38%), with wheat (12%), barley (10%), fresh fruit (9%), olive trees (3%) and vines (3%) being the five most important individual crops.…”

Section: Agriculturalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural Land Use in the European Union: Past, Present and Future

Inui

Bowler

1995

Geogr. Rev. Jpn, Ser B

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Agriculture in the European Union (EU) is moving into a 'post-productivist transition'. From a period of maximizing food output, farmers are being redirected to reduce their production, provide society with 'environmental goods' and create a more 'sustainable' agriculture. The motivations for this transition can be traced to the removal of food surpluses, control of the cost of subsidies to agriculture, and repair of environmental damage associated with productivist agriculture. This paper offers a perspective on the agricultural land-use implications of this redirection of EU agriculture by examining agricultural land use in the past (productivism), the present (post-productivist transition) and the future (post-productivism). Attention is directed to three changing land use dimensions: from intensification to extensifica tion; from concentration to dispersion; and from specialisation to diversification. There are national, regional and local variations in these dimensions, but overall a more diversified land use structure is emerging within the EU. Non-food crops (including bio-fuel), forestry, set-aside, nature conservation and recreation are the main rural, rather than agricultural, land uses increasing in importance. Future rural land use trends will revolve around three processes: the extent of 'surplus' farmland in the EU, global competition in markets for food, and global climatic change. Much depends on the application of technological progress in the genetic engineering of crops and livestock, the international competitiveness of regional agricultural systems, and the international agricultural response to global climatic change.

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Section: Agriculturalmentioning

confidence: 99%