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Agriculture in the Alpine Region

The spatial and economic development of the Alpine Region is closely connected to the agricultural development. Approximately 25% of the total area of the Alps is used by agriculture. In many mountain regions agriculture is a significant employment factor and important source of income for the local inhabitants.
Between landscape diversity and agriculture there exist complex relationships. Many ecologically valuable biotopes are closely dependent on extensive agricultural land use.
 
Agriculture shapes the landscape of mountain regions considerably.

Mountain agriculture is disadvantaged by the special conditions inherent in mountain regions (shorter vegetation period, geomorphological and topographical extremes) (Map 1). The higher production costs undermine any serious attempts at competing on national or much less on international markets. Therefore, an increasing amount of attention is being focused on the services mountain agriculture provides to all of society. These services go well beyond agricultural production: The conservation of cultural landscapes, prevention of natural catastrophes by cultivating alpine meadows, or decentralized settlement. Without mountain agriculture many of these functions cannot be maintained. This new task assignment can be described with the term "multifunctionality". As a consequnece, since 1996 it has been anchored as a central goal in Article 104 of the Swiss Federal Constitution. Multifunctionality also essentially determines the goals of the new Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (CAP ). Since the beginning of the 90's, most Alpine countries have been granting substantial agri-environmental measures, compensatory allowances and other forms of support (e.g. grazing premium, incentives for mowing steep slopes, etc.) so that mountain agriculture can perform its multifunctional services independently from market requirements. 

The topographical conditions – special circumstances for agriculture in the Alps
(Source: „Digital Elevation Model"/Mona Pro Europe, GeosysData, Paris)