Agricultural Landscapes: History, Status and Challenges

Agricultural landscapes (rural landscapes, agrolandscapes) are territories shaped by agricultural production. They have enabled the development of human civilizations and are a cultural achievement. Peasants, farmers and agricultural enterprises feed society. They have created agricultural landscapes for their business and habitats for their life. To understand transformation processes in agricultural landscapes, we analyse the history of agriculture with a special focus on Europe and Eurasia. Current agricultural landscapes in a crowded, globalized world are multifunctional, highly complex systems. They not only serve to produce food commodities and energy for the increasing and expanding urban population but also provide diverse ecosystem services and need to cater for the demands of the rural population. Current agriculture is highly productive in wealthy countries, but due to high inputs it is also responsible for environmental problems such as water pollution and loss of biodiversity. Industrial-style agriculture in large fields has resulted in increased productivity but simplified the structure of landscapes and eliminated elements of nature and rural culture. Major problems that urgently need to be addressed include trends towards disrupting natural cycles in agricultural production, soil and water degradation, ageing populations in villages and the breakdown of rural infrastructure. Agricultural landscape research provides analyses to understand these processes and helps elaborate sustainable scientific, technical and cultural solutions

Optimizing Agricultural Landscapes: Measures Towards Prosperity and Sustainability

Due to the multiplicity of challenges facing all societies at the beginning of the twenty-first century, agricultural systems and rural landscapes are under pressure. Solutions for their optimization towards sustainability at high productivity are required. We address the majority of current agricultural systems and discuss approaches for assessing their sustainability. Life cycle analyses and footprint methods have experienced much progress but require further qualification. Some alternative farming systems such as organic agriculture, agroecology, regenerative agriculture, ecological intensification, and sustainable intensification, which are based on landscape approaches and direct farmer?consumer interactions have potential for significant improve ments towards the sustainability of global agriculture and need further attention and promotion in research and practice. Technology-driven smart farming technologies can be implemented in all these kinds of farming systems. A key to preventing the degradation of agricultural landscapes andimproving ecology and economics lies in their better structural development and design, adapted to geosystem settings, legacies of local cultural history and opportunities presented by urban?rural interactions. For achieving better landscape design, it is worth thinking about reforming and strengthening land consolidation as a planned participatory process involving the rural community. Further, scientifically sound and policy relevant rules and steering instruments have to be developed for the design and cultural evolution of rural landscapes. The European Union (EU) and other wealthy economic zones, federations, countries, and regions have developed funding systems for agriculture. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU is a powerful tool promoting both the possession and ownership of agricultural land (pillar I, main pillar) and rural development (pillarII). This system should be better balanced by shifting towards pillar II to promote further ecosystem services in agricultural regions. Novel solutions should be aimed at for maintaining landscape diversity and heritage, developing local food cultures and agritourism, and strengthening rural communities and their societal image. Transdisciplinary international model projects are useful contributions to making innovations operable.Fil: Mueller, Lothar. Leibniz Centre For Agricultural Landscape Research; AlemaniaFil: Eulenstein, Frank. Leibniz Centre For Agricultural Landscape Research; AlemaniaFil: Mirschel, Wilfried. Leibniz Centre For Agricultural Landscape Research; AlemaniaFil: Schindler, Uwe. Kuban State Agrarian University; RusiaFil: Sychev, Viktor G.. Institute For Agrochemistry; RusiaFil: Rukhovich, Olga V.. Institute For Agrochemistry; RusiaFil: Sheudzhen, Askhad K.. Kuban State Agrarian University; RusiaFil: Romanenkov, Vladimir. Institute For Agrochemistry; RusiaFil: Lukin, Sergey M.. All Russian Research Institute for Organic Fertiliser and Peat; RusiaFil: McKenzie, Blair M.. University Of Dundee; Reino UnidoFil: Jones, Michael. Norwegian University of Science and Technology; NoruegaFil: Dannowski, Ralf. Leibniz Centre For Agricultural Landscape Research; AlemaniaFil: Blum, Winfried E. H.. University Of Natural Resources And Life Sciences; AustriaFil: Salnjikov, Elmira. Soil Science Institute; SerbiaFil: Saparov, Abdulla. Research Centre For Ecology And Environment Of Central; KazajistánFil: Pachikin, Konstantin. Kazakh Research Institute Of Soil Science And Agrochemi; KazajistánFil: Hennings, Volker. No especifíca;Fil: Scherber, Christoph. Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig; AlemaniaFil: Hoffmann, Jörg. Institute For Strategies And Technology Assessment; AlemaniaFil: Antrop, Marc. University of Ghent; BélgicaFil: Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. - Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; ArgentinaFil: Gómez Carella, Dulce Sol. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. - Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; ArgentinaFil: Augstburger, Horacio. University of Bern; SuizaFil: Schwilch, Gudrun. Centre For Development And Environment; SuizaFil: Angelstam, Per. Swedish University Of Agricultural Sciences; SueciaFil: Manton, Michael. Vytautas Magnus University; LituaniaFil: Dronin, Nikolai M.. Moscow Lomonosov State University; Rusi