Preserving Characteristics of the Agricultural Landscape through Agri-Environmental Policies: The Case of Cultivation Terraces in Greece

Abstract

Landscapes are made from different components and elements, some of which are characterized through their presence and patterns. The assessment of this character is performed via the identification of landscape characteristics. For agricultural landscapes, such characteristics can be natural elements or elements of farming systems. Their preservation can be of great importance in Europe today, and agri-environmental measures have been used towards this goal. One such characteristic in Greece is cultivation terraces, today widely neglected, as the cultivations they supported are abandoned or modernized. This paper discusses the effectiveness of an agri-environmental policy measure for the reconstruction of cultivation terraces in Greece, with regard to existing practices of farmers. A picture for the whole country is presented and farmers' practices are discussed with greater detail through research with farmers that have been supported on the island of Lesvos. Findings from Lesvos reveal that only part-time and ‘hobby’ farmers have participated and that they acknowledge the productive, conservation and symbolic value of terraces. In this context, although these farmers are actively farming the fields, terraces appear to have lost their original functional role in agricultural production and they are mainly maintained as a decorative element of the form of the landscape by farmers who can afford such concerns.

Key Words:

• Cultivation terraces
• agri-environmental policy
• landscape change
• landscape character
• Greece

Notes

1. Terraces are classified in three major types (Rackham & Moody, 1996): step (in straight lines or parallel to contours), braided (that zigzag the slope) and pocket (around individual trees). The first two types are used for most land uses (arable land, garden crops, tree crops and grazing lands), while the last for tree crops, mostly olive trees in the Aegean (Grove & Rackham, 2002).

2. Each applicant for participating in the measure submitted an application accompanied by a ‘file’ with the features of his/her farm (area size, type of land use, ownership contracts), information about the terraces (volume). We had access to some of the information of these files.

3. Absentee landowners are a reality in rural areas of Greece. Many owners migrated to urban areas or abroad in the period 1951 – 1981 when rural depopulation reached its apogee in the country, most keeping part if not all their farms. When the land use includes cultivations such as olive trees or vines, many absentees still collect the fruits with the use of workers to gain an extra income and/or use the products for home consumption. On Lesvos, 35% of the population of the island migrated from 1951 to 1991 and more have moved to the capital. The extent of the land they own is unknown and certainly differs across the island. According to our experience though, many manage their plantations with workers or with members of the family still living on the island in exchange for a percentage of the product.