THE TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES IN WESTERN-EUROPE

Today's agricultural landscapes are becoming decors, as the old pattern of conditions for regionally differentiated farming systems is disappearing. The variety of regionally differentiated landscapes is unlikely to increase. Some types of landscape will disappear, others will be sufficiently flexible to survive. In some other areas restoration of the traditional landscape is being considered for reasons like tourism, ecology or scenic value. The landscape typology as described here is meant to be a step in setting up a commonly adopted vocabulary and this we need in order to know what we are talking about. The interaction between agricultural land use and the long-term management of the landscape is discussed at length. The main conclusion is that the variation in agricultural landscapes in Europe will probably diminish if the world market for agricultural products has its way and landscape planning is ignored.