Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 77 2000 53–64
Nature and landscape production potentials of organic types of agriculture: a check of evaluation criteria and parameters in two Tuscan
farm-landscapes
Roberto Rossi
a ,
∗
, Dionisio Nota
b
a
Regione Toscana, Department of Land and Environmental Policy, Via di Novoli 26 -I-50127 Florence, Italy
b
Regione Toscana, Department of Economic Development, Via di Novoli 26 -I-50127 Florence, Italy Accepted 19 July 1999
Abstract
Criteria and parameters for the evaluation of sound rural landscapes presented in the list worked out in the EU-concerted action ‘The nature and landscape production potentials of sustainableorganic types of agriculture’ third version, November
1995 are checked in two Tuscan organic farms. The first farm is located in the landscape system of the Coastal Plains in the Province of Grosseto, southern Tuscany. The second one is located in the landscape system of the Pliocene Hills in the
Province of Florence, central Tuscany. Referring to the ‘Checklist for sustainable landscape management’ as presented by Stobbelaar and Van Mansvelt 1994, some comments are given on the criteria and parameters proposed and on the method
used for computing values in the evaluation see Tellarini and Caporali, 2000. The evaluation that results confirms that organic farms in both areas add a considerable number of values to the surrounding landscape, ranging from a clean environment,
a diverse agro-ecosystem, multiple social and economic functions and a coherently diversified landscape. ©2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Evaluation; Landscape; Landscape development; Organic farm; Tuscany
1. Introduction
In this paper, criteria and parameters for the eval- uation of sustainable rural landscapes, as worked out
in the EU-concerted action ‘The nature and landscape production potentials of sustainableorganic types of
agriculture’ Stobbelaar and Van Mansvelt, 1994; Van Mansvelt and Stobbelaar, 1997, are checked
on their feasibility in an assessment of two Tuscan farm-landscapes.
∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-055-438-3699; fax:+39-055-438-3898.
The mentioned set of criteria and parameters for sustainable landscape management has been drawn up
as a tool for many purposes. For example, it can be used as a framework for farm design, for farm develop-
ment and management, and also as a checklist for eval- uating the sustainability of farms and their potential to
produce nature and landscape values as demanded by society see Van Mansvelt and Van der Lubbe, 1998.
In the exercise reported on here, the practical appli- cability of the list of criteria and parameters, resulting
from the work carried out in the first two years of the concerted action, is discussed and an evaluation of the
farm-landscapes is done, using a simple criterium for computing values in the evaluation.
0167-880900 – see front matter ©2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 6 7 - 8 8 0 9 9 9 0 0 0 9 2 - 4
54 R. Rossi, D. Nota Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 77 2000 53–64
The tables of criteria and parameters used for the exercise see Tables 1–6 draw upon the third ver-
sion of the list of parameters November 1995, re- sulting from meetings in Denmark and Spain in the
summer of 1995. The Tables 3–6. economy, soci- ology [
g
-type disciplines], psychology and physiog- nomycultural geography [
a
-type disciplines] have been used without any change; whereas some varia-
tions are proposed for the Tables 1 and 2 environment and ecology, the
b
-type disciplines. The assessment of the farm-landscape values, as
reported on here, has been carried out by a ‘reduced’ team of two
b
scientists: a physical geographer and an agronomist. No measurements have been taken for
any of the criteria and parameters, which have been considered as points of reference in a rapid evaluation
by experts. In Tables 1 to 6 some notes refer to remarks regarding the parameters listed in Section 3, and values
are assigned to parameters and criteria as explained in Section 4.
2. Schematic description of the farm-landscapes
