Abstract
Context: Global dynamics affect the sustainability of agricultural landscapes, but these cross-scale connections are understudied. Therefore, we combine food systems and landscape ecology, focusing on food products that provide a linkage between global consumers and landscapes of production (e.g., Douro Valley wine) which we call landscape products. Objective: The aim of this study is to characterise Mediterranean landscape products based on experts’ perceptions by analysing their qualities, farming practices, and value chains, and to identify their ecological, cultural, and socio-economic outcomes in the landscapes of production. Methods: Experts with specific knowledge on a landscape product were surveyed by email and their answers analysed using descriptive and ordination statistics. Fifty-four landscape products were characterised. Results: Based on the experts’ perceptions, landscape products are high quality products, mainly using traditional knowledge and low intensity farming. They support biocultural diversity in the landscapes of production, but their positive socio-economic outcomes remain limited, with problems of inequity and lack of empowerment among producers and a tendency towards intensification or abandonment of the farming practices. We distinguished three types of products based on their localness and how their qualities were shared with consumers. Local products performed better in the ecological and cultural outcomes and products under certification in the economic. Labelling mechanisms and better organisation of producers could enhance these products and their positive outcomes. Conclusions: Combining landscape ecology and food systems research allowed us better understand the outcomes of landscape products in the landscapes of production and suggest pathways for fostering landscape sustainability.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2259-2275 |
| Journal | Landscape Ecology |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the German Research Foundation, DFG, through grant number 426675955. We thank Christian Bunn, Lukas Flinzberger, and Franziska Wolpert for their contribution to the survey design. We especially thank all respondents to the survey. We are also very grateful to the editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback that considerably improved the relevance of this manuscript. Prof. Dr. Johannes Kahl passed away on 12 November 2020. He contributed a thorough food systems perspective to this study. We remember him as an outstanding colleague and scholar in the field of organic food quality and food culture.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft | 426675955 |