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Changing Roles of European Producers
2007-11-04
Since World War II the importance of agriculture to the rural economy of Europe has declined enormously. In most of Europe, agriculture now accounts for only 10-15% of the economy in rural areas. So there is an important difference between the economic position of agriculture and the use of land: for instance, 70% of the land in the Netherlands is agricultural, but only 5% of their GNP is agricultural (primary sector). Especially in areas near urban concentrations there is a political and social tension between values like biodiversity and landscape (bound to land use) and social welfare and income (bound to GNP).
The distinction between land use and income is most striking when we note that the major part of agricultural earnings is made in horticulture and intensive livestock, two sub-sectors which use very little land. Because of high land prices, there has been a tendency to intensify production as much as possible. During the last decade, the dairy sector underwent a move towards a more landless approach (zero-grazing). It might be that two “sub-sectors” will emerge in dairy-farming: huge farms with only a little land and cows in the stables, and a sector of smaller farms with more land and cows in the meadow. These smaller farms will also depend on other income sources such as tourism.
