Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1007/s10113-023-02150-y
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Why has farming in Europe changed? A farmers’ perspective on the development since the 1960s
Author Mohr, F.; Diogo, V.; Helfenstein, J.; Debonne, N.; Dimopoulos, T.; Dramstad, W.; García-Martín, M.; Hernik, J.; Herzog, F.; Kizos, T.; Lausch, A.; Lehmann, L.; Levers, C.; Pazur, R.; Ruiz-Aragón, V.; Swart, R.; Thenail, C.; Ulfeng, H.; Verburg, P.H.; Williams, T.; Zarina, A.; Bürgi, M.
Source Titel Regional Environmental Change
Year 2023
Department CLE
Volume 23
Issue 4
Page From art. 156
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Supplements https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10113-023-02150-y/MediaObjects/10113_2023_2150_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10113-023-02150-y/MediaObjects/10113_2023_2150_MOESM2_ESM.pdf
https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10113-023-02150-y/MediaObjects/10113_2023_2150_MOESM3_ESM.pdf
https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10113-023-02150-y/MediaObjects/10113_2023_2150_MOESM4_ESM.pdf
Keywords Agricultural change; Driving forces; Green revolution; Land management history; Oral history interview
Abstract Farming in Europe has been the scene of several important socio-economic and environmental developments and crises throughout the last century. Therefore, an understanding of the historical driving forces of farm change helps identifying potentials for navigating future pathways of agricultural development. However, long-term driving forces have so far been studied, e.g. in anecdotal local case studies or in systematic literature reviews, which often lack context dependency. In this study, we bridged local and continental scales by conducting 123 oral history interviews (OHIs) with elderly farmers across 13 study sites in 10 European countries. We applied a driving forces framework to systematically analyse the OHIs. We find that the most prevalent driving forces were the introduction of new technologies, developments in agricultural markets that pushed farmers for farm size enlargement and technological optimisation, agricultural policies, but also cultural aspects such as cooperation and intergenerational arrangements. However, we find considerable heterogeneity in the specific influence of individual driving forces across the study sites, implying that generic assumptions about the dynamics and impacts of European agricultural change drivers hold limited explanatory power on the local scale. Our results suggest that site-specific factors and their historical development will need to be considered when addressing the future of agriculture in Europe in a scientific or policy context.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=28215
Mohr, F., Diogo, V., Helfenstein, J., Debonne, N., Dimopoulos, T., Dramstad, W., García-Martín, M., Hernik, J., Herzog, F., Kizos, T., Lausch, A., Lehmann, L., Levers, C., Pazur, R., Ruiz-Aragón, V., Swart, R., Thenail, C., Ulfeng, H., Verburg, P.H., Williams, T., Zarina, A., Bürgi, M. (2023):
Why has farming in Europe changed? A farmers’ perspective on the development since the 1960s
Reg. Envir. Chang. 23 (4), art. 156 10.1007/s10113-023-02150-y