IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agisys/v104y2011i7p522-532.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changing environmental characteristics of European cropland

Author

Listed:
  • Bakker, M.M.
  • Hatna, E.
  • Kuhlman, T.
  • Mücher, C.A.

Abstract

The spatial configuration of agricultural systems is continuously changing in response to changes in demand for agricultural goods, changes in the level of competition between different land use activities, and progress in agricultural technology. This may lead to a change in the location of agricultural systems and consequently to a change in their average environmental characteristics. This paper explores the change in environmental characteristics of cropland (horticulture and field crops) over the years 1950, 1990 and 2000, for Western and Eastern Europe, using basic descriptive statistics. Underlying mechanisms are explored with logistic (interaction) regression analysis. We find that in both Eastern and Western Europe, crop cultivation shifted away from cities. In Western Europe cropland became situated on shallower soils, steeper slopes, and drier and less accessible areas. Probable reasons are that technical progress reduced the importance of traditional constraints such as drought, poor soils, and distance from markets, so that crop farmers were allowed to move to warm and sunny areas where potential productivity is highest. In addition, cropland probably lost some of its competitive power to grassland and nature. In Eastern Europe cropland concentrated on deeper soils and flatter terrain from 1990 onward. Here, the abandonment of the central planning system and a more flexible land market must have allowed a shift of cropland towards more suitable locations.

Suggested Citation

  • Bakker, M.M. & Hatna, E. & Kuhlman, T. & Mücher, C.A., 2011. "Changing environmental characteristics of European cropland," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 104(7), pages 522-532, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:104:y:2011:i:7:p:522-532
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X11000473
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric Koomen & Tom Kuhlman & Jan Groen & Arno Bouwman, 2005. "Simulating The Future Of Agricultural Land Use In The Netherlands," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 96(2), pages 218-224, April.
    2. Edward L. Glaeser & Janet E. Kohlhase, 2004. "Cities, regions and the decline of transport costs," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Raymond J. G. M. Florax & David A. Plane (ed.), Fifty Years of Regional Science, pages 197-228, Springer.
    3. Trzeciak-Duval, Alexandra, 1999. "A Decade of Transition in Central and Eastern European Agriculture," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 26(3), pages 283-304, August.
    4. Fujita,Masahisa, 1991. "Urban Economic Theory," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521396455, September.
    5. David Tilman & Kenneth G. Cassman & Pamela A. Matson & Rosamond Naylor & Stephen Polasky, 2002. "Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices," Nature, Nature, vol. 418(6898), pages 671-677, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Susanne Stein & Horst-Henning Steinmann & Johannes Isselstein, 2019. "Linking Arable Crop Occurrence with Site Conditions by the Use of Highly Resolved Spatial Data," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-14, April.
    2. Müller, Daniel & Leitão, Pedro J. & Sikor, Thomas, 2013. "Comparing the determinants of cropland abandonment in Albania and Romania using boosted regression trees," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 66-77.
    3. Su, Shiliang & Hu, Yi’na & Luo, Fanghan & Mai, Gengchen & Wang, Yaping, 2014. "Farmland fragmentation due to anthropogenic activity in rapidly developing region," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 87-93.
    4. Wei, Lai & Luo, Yun & Wang, Miao & Su, Shiliang & Pi, Jianhua & Li, Guie, 2020. "Essential fragmentation metrics for agricultural policies: Linking landscape pattern, ecosystem service and land use management in urbanizing China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    5. Robert Pazúr & Juraj Lieskovský & Matthias Bürgi & Daniel Müller & Tibor Lieskovský & Zhen Zhang & Alexander V. Prishchepov, 2020. "Abandonment and Recultivation of Agricultural Lands in Slovakia—Patterns and Determinants from the Past to the Future," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-22, September.
    6. Dongjie Wang & Hao Yang & Yueming Hu & A-Xing Zhu & Xiaoyun Mao, 2022. "Analyzing Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of Cultivated Land Fragmentation and Their Influencing Factors in a Rapidly Developing Region: A Case Study in Guangdong Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-21, October.
    7. Chris Jacobs-Crisioni & Vasco Diogo & Carolina Perpina Castillo & Claudia Baranzelli & Filipe Batista e Silva & Konstantin Rosina & Boyan Kavalov & Carlo Lavalle, 2017. "The LUISA Territorial Reference Scenario 2017: A technical description," JRC Research Reports JRC108163, Joint Research Centre.
    8. Maša Zorana Ostrogović Sever & Zoltán Barcza & Dóra Hidy & Anikó Kern & Doroteja Dimoski & Slobodan Miko & Ozren Hasan & Branka Grahovac & Hrvoje Marjanović, 2021. "Evaluation of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model Biome-BGCMuSo for Modelling Soil Organic Carbon under Different Land Uses," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, September.
    9. Vasilii Erokhin & Tianming Gao & Anna Ivolga, 2020. "Structural Variations in the Composition of Land Funds at Regional Scales across Russia," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-39, June.
    10. Diogo, V. & Koomen, E. & Kuhlman, T., 2015. "An economic theory-based explanatory model of agricultural land-use patterns: The Netherlands as a case study," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1-16.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Diogo, V. & Koomen, E. & Kuhlman, T., 2015. "An economic theory-based explanatory model of agricultural land-use patterns: The Netherlands as a case study," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1-16.
    2. Miren Lafourcade & Jacques-François Thisse, 2011. "New Economic Geography: The Role of Transport Costs," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Ajay Agarwal & Genevieve Giuliano & Christian Redfearn, 2012. "Strangers in our midst: the usefulness of exploring polycentricity," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 48(2), pages 433-450, April.
    4. Stef Proost & Jacques-François Thisse, 2019. "What Can Be Learned from Spatial Economics?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 57(3), pages 575-643, September.
    5. Dekkers, J. & Koomen, E., 2008. "Valuation of open space: Hedonic house price analyses in the Dutch Randstad region," Serie Research Memoranda 0024, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    6. Gunther Maier, 2009. "Spatial prices, search behavior and location," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 43(1), pages 27-48, March.
    7. Champagne, Marie-Pier & Dubé, Jean, 2023. "The impact of transport infrastructure on firms’ location decision: A meta-analysis based on a systematic literature review," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 139-155.
    8. Johansson, Börje & Forslund, Ulla, 2005. "The Analysis of Location, Co-location and Urbanisation Economics," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 46, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    9. Miren Lafourcade & Jacques-François Thisse, 2008. "New economic geography: A guide to transport analysis," Working Papers halshs-00586878, HAL.
    10. Bode, Eckhardt, 2006. "Commuting, externalities, and the geographical sizes of metropolitan areas," Kiel Working Papers 1289, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    11. Eric Koomen & Jasper Dekkers & Mark Koetse & Piet Rietveld & Henk Scholten, 2005. "Valuation of metropolitan open space - presenting the research framework," ERSA conference papers ersa05p599, European Regional Science Association.
    12. Liv Osland & Gwilym Pryce, 2012. "Housing Prices and Multiple Employment Nodes: Is the Relationship Nonmonotonic?," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(8), pages 1182-1208, November.
    13. Edward L. Glaeser & Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto, 2010. "Did the Death of Distance Hurt Detroit and Help New York?," NBER Chapters, in: Agglomeration Economics, pages 303-337, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Robert Dekle & Jonathan Eaton, 1994. "Agglomeration and the Price of Land: Evidence from the Prefectures," NBER Working Papers 4781, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Elisa Morri & Riccardo Santolini, 2021. "Ecosystem Services Valuation for the Sustainable Land Use Management by Nature-Based Solution (NbS) in the Common Agricultural Policy Actions: A Case Study on the Foglia River Basin (Marche Region, It," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-23, December.
    16. Pengyu Zhu, 2013. "Telecommuting, Household Commute and Location Choice," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(12), pages 2441-2459, September.
    17. Marta Aloi & Joanna Poyago-Theotoky & Frédéric Tournemaine, 2022. "The Geography of Knowledge and R&D-led Growth [Real effects ofacademic research: comment]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 1149-1190.
    18. Liu, Duan & Tang, Runcheng & Xie, Jun & Tian, Jingjing & Shi, Rui & Zhang, Kai, 2020. "Valuation of ecosystem services of rice–fish coculture systems in Ruyuan County, China," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    19. Bono, Pierre-Henri & David, Quentin & Desbordes, Rodolphe & Py, Loriane, 2022. "Metro infrastructure and metropolitan attractiveness," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    20. Robin Boadway & Nicolas Marceau & Maurice Marchand, 1996. "Issues in decentralizing the provision of education," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 3(3), pages 311-327, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:104:y:2011:i:7:p:522-532. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agsy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.