Landscape preference of different stakeholders in highly intensive farming agricultural landscape.

Abstract

Intensive agriculture is the way for production and management in modern agriculture, which increases the yield per unit area of farmland, brings a series of environmental and ecological problems, and limits the sustainability of agriculture. Landscape preference focuses on different stakeholders' preferences for landscape, reflects the influences of human's subjective feelings and behaviors on landscape. Based on the agricultural landscape of Fengqiu County in Henan Province, we investigated the characteristics of the landscape elements which stakeholders preferred and analyzed the reasons using the questionnaire survey and other related methods. We proposed several suggestions for future development of the agricultural landscape in study area. The results showed that stakeholders preferred the landscape element which is simple and easy to manage, and emphasized the production and economic functions of agricultural landscape. Experts and local environmentalists preferred the landscape elements with multiple functions and benefits, as well as complex landscape configurations with high heterogeneity, with the aim to develop the multifunctional agricultural landscape. Factors such as education level, professional background and types of intervie-wees had obvious influences on the landscape preference of stakeholders. The decision-making beha-vior of government, the degree of economic compensation, and the technological support of eco-agriculture would be the important factors determining the possible development of landscape structure and function in the future.