Land Use Change in the EU

[Dante Monson]

Copied:

Owning a small country house in rural Umbria, Central Italy, one must notice that more and more farms scattered in the surrounding picaresque landscape are becoming abandoned. The grass and shrubs grow in the farms' fields, while down in the valley, small parcels of land have been taken over by intensive cultivation. What was once a neat mosaic of land is now changing, increasingly mixing active parts and those fading into nature.

The local view mirrors a wider European trend. In the last five years, fields, woods, and habitats have shifted shape. Big farms allow for easier mechanisation and higher yield, but the variety in the landscape shrinks. Similarly, more and more land is left unused. In Luxembourg's case, it's already about 3% of the country's total land area. 

A data story by M. Giannini.