The changing role of farming in a peripheric South European area – the challenge of the landscape amenities demand

Abstract

The role of farming has been changing in many European rural areas, especially in the most peripheric areas, where production has ceased to be viable or is threatened in the present market context, but the countryside is valued by society through other functions it provides. Within this new paradigm, where the territorial role of farming is stressed, there is a need to understand and assess how the cultural and amenity functions, that nowadays are based in the rural landscape as a resource, depend on the land management undertaken through the farming sector, and how do the users of these functions value the outputs of farming activities. Increasing knowledge on this demand is required for informing new management orientations at the landscape and the farm levels. In order to integrate all factors, innovative solutions to be designed need to have this information as a stepping stone.