Mediterranean Agriculture

9 Key excerpts on "Mediterranean Agriculture"

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  eBook - ePub

  The Mediterranean

  Environment and Society

  • Russell King, Lindsay Proudfoot, Bernard Smith(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Figure 1.4 ). Wheat, vines and olives are the classic crop mix characteristic of Mediterranean Agriculture. However, the agriculture practised in each of the countries we shall be examining is also shaped by the existence of other climatic zones, and in this context there are important differences between the northern and southern shores. In southern Europe, Mediterranean Agriculture exists in countries (or unified markets) which also contain temperate zones – to the north of the Apennines we find the intensive arable farms of the Lombard plain. In the Maghreb the southern boundaries of the Mediterranean region merge into arid zones. South of the Atlas only low-intensity grazing is possible outside the oases, except in areas where irrigation systems operate. Throughout the Maghreb, the reliability of rainfall, even in winter, becomes a major factor in arable production and the region experiences periods of extensive drought. Consequently, agricultural production was based traditionally on a risk-minimising strategy incorporating dry-farming techniques, irrigation and stock rearing.

  The diversity of Mediterranean Agriculture is also derived from the marked variations in terrain, the origins of which were discussed in Chapters 2 and 4 . Throughout the region there are high mountain chains, many deforested and heavily degraded, where no forms of intensive agriculture are possible, and the limited economic activity revolves around grazing, or the odd belt of cultivated chestnuts. Lower down are the rolling hills and table-lands where rain-fed arable farming, olive groves and vineyards are common – this zone is more predominant in southern Europe than in North Africa. Finally, there are the lowlands and river valleys where more intensive agriculture based on irrigation has been practised for more than 2000 years, and where much of the capital-intensive farming is found today. These areas include citrus production in Andalusia, the ‘Golden Bowl’ around Palermo and the irrigated lowlands of the Maghreb; cotton production along the Guadalquivir; tobacco in the better-watered Greek Plains; and intensive fruit and vegetable production in favoured locations throughout the Mediterranean.

  There are also considerable variations in the agrarian social structures found in the region. In the immediate post-war period the countries of the Mediterranean littoral all had half or more of their active populations employed in agriculture, and the majority of these people were peasants, catering mainly for their own needs. We tend to think of peasants as a traditional and unchanging category of cultivators, but although much of the technology employed may have been ancient, many of the crucial economic and social characteristics of peasantries in the Mediterranean only emerged in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with the abolition of feudalism and earlier forms of property rights. Peasants used household labour to cultivate areas of land which rarely produced more than the foodstuffs required for home consumption and a small surplus for sale to obtain a few manufactured household goods. The land-holding of each family was small compared to Northern Europe, and often consisted of scattered plots rather than consolidated farms: this being both a consequence of the widespread practice of partible inheritance, and an ecological necessity for the practice of mixed agriculture in areas with very varied terrain. Davis (1973) gives a detailed case study of production patterns amongst small farmers in southern Italy. In the mountains and other marginal areas many households could not even produce basic subsistence needs from the land available, and relied on seasonal migrant labour to survive. Agriculture was unmechanised, and subject to a harsh and unpredictable climate: drought, flood, late frosts and desiccating winds. Even in the best of years, labour requirements were very variable, with long periods of inactivity interspersed with a few very busy months. As we shall see later on, since the 1950s the rural exodus and agricultural modernisation have removed the ‘peasant’ character of much Mediterranean Agriculture, but in marginal areas small-scale, semi-subsistence farming still survives in the hands of elderly farmers supported by pensions and welfare payments (see Fig. 13.1

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  Farming, Development and Space

  A World Agricultural Geography

  • Bernd Andreae, Howard F. Gregor(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter

    (Publisher)

  The Mediterranean climate is characterized by a dry summer. Only 86 mm of rain falls in northern Apulia in the June-to-August quarter, while on the coast of the Ionian Sea the amount is but 71 mm. Here annual cropping must either be restricted to the winter months or supported by irrigation. However, the farmer in the Mediterranean coun-tries adjusts to the pronounced summer drought in still other ways, namely with bush and tree crops. With their deep root system, they can utilize the winter moisture and groundwater better than annual crops can, and consequently are able to surmount the many dry months with-out much damage. Amount and seasonal distribution of precipitation still do not completely account for the formation of farming types. Both must be seen in relation to temperature conditions. With high temperatures, a relatively rich amount of precipitation is taken up by the atmosphere relatively quickly through intense evaporation; the cultivated plants thus benefit from only a small part of the moisture. Conversely, with lower temper- 202 VIII. The Agricultural Geography of the Middle Latitudes atures and thus less evaporation, a smaller amount of precipitation can penetrate deeper into the soil and there become available for plants. Seen in this relationship, abundant precipitation in warm areas gains quite a different aspect. Dry periods occur there in spite of the precipi-tation. But if, as in the Mediterranean region, the summer months have relatively meager rainfall with high temperatures, the result is a pro-nounced drought for several months, a special climatic feature of this portion of the EC area. Thus, when the efficiency of precipitation is considered, we get a completely different picture from the one presented when precipitation amount is considered in isolation.

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  Agriculture, Environment and Development

  International Perspectives on Water, Land and Politics

  • Antonio A.R Ioris(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  2011 ). Consequently, specific socionatural configurations and their evolution over time are key to understanding the agri-food system and acknowledging its territorial embeddedness and associated interdependencies in social, cultural, environmental, and economic terms in order to formulate interventions towards more sustainable and just futures.

  Curiously enough, despite the studies and data that challenge the widespread diversification and other related activities in Mediterranean Europe (Arnalte-Alegre and Ortiz-Miranda 2013 ), the Mediterranean stereotype has been championed in rural development paradigms as an example of post-productivism, multifunctional agriculture, and/or rural development success. This contradiction shows not only the importance of developing empirically grounded studies, but also the need to be critical about how not only discourses but also theoretical contributions are built. PE calls for a critical account of the production of knowledge , raising awareness of existing interests and how knowledge can also constitute a tool for exclusion and domination (Forsyth 2003 ). For example, most paradigms on rural development and agrarian change have been developed (and inspired) in an Anglo-Saxon context (and language), from productivist and modernization approaches to the eco-economy. My contention, therefore, is not only about the need for integration of other perspectives and socio-ecological systems, but also the need to raise awareness that the framings attached to these paradigms are conditioning our views on particular agri-food systems. This is clearly illustrated under the lens of modernization, where small family farms in the Mediterranean region were seen as backwards in the ‘development’ process. This notion of delay led to the design of agricultural and rural policies oriented towards reducing the structural gap with Northern European countries, that is, increasing the size of holdings to the detriment of other policy goals, namely environmental ones (Paniagua 2001 ). However, this also applies to the multifunctional approach that celebrates the production of high-quality foodstuffs despite creating markets only for middle- or high-income families. Of course, these framings have misguided not only academics but also policymakers in the context of the Common Agricultural Policy (Moragues-Faus et al. 2013

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  The Mediterranean Basin

  Its Political Economy and Changing International Relations

  • Glenda G. Rosenthal, François Duchêne(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Butterworth-Heinemann

    (Publisher)

  The three case studies thus reveal what happens when old, fairly recent and very recent relationships are involved. The results, when placed in the context of the central thesis of this work, are really quite striking. Old ties turn out to be extremely strong. Thus, further Europeanization of the countries of the Mediterranean Basin has occurred and is occurring for the most part because the range of choice on both the Mediterranean and the West European sides is rather limited : the loosening of long-standing bonds, even when it is desired, is likely to be enormously disruptive in structural, financial and human terms; and alternatives to the newer links are likely to be costly or difficult of access. CHAPTER THREE Agriculture Of all the issue areas under consideration in this study, agriculture constitutes the firmest bond linking the various Mediterranean societies and joining them with Western Europe. Similar geological, climatic and hydrological conditions have produced crop patterns that vary strikingly little from country to country on the Mediterranean littoral. Geographic and historical factors have led to the creation of agricultural infrastructures and traditional trade flows that display few differences throughout the entire area. The result has been the development of the phenomenon of 'Mediterranean-type agriculture'. By this is generally understood a cluster of related characteristics. On the human level, it means high rural population, small, non-mechanized enterprises and low labor productivity. Cultivation concentrates on a few principal crops such as citrus fruit, other fruit except for apples, vegetables, tobacco, wine, olive oil, cotton and rice. National economies are based to an important extent on the agricultural sector, although this is now tapering off somewhat.

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  Mediterranean Identities

  Environment, Society, Culture

  • Borna Fuerst-Bjelis(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • IntechOpen

    (Publisher)

  Wheat reached Egypt through Israel and Jordan [5 ]. After arriving in a given territory, wheat underwent a progressive adaptation to the varying conditions of the new area and gradually established new strategies for yield formation, which likely conferred adaptive advantages under the new environmental conditions [ 18 ]. During the dispersal of wheat along the Mediterranean Basin, the farmers took their habits wherever they went, not just sowing, reaping and threshing but also other well-established technologies such as baking and fermenting. This process of migration and natural and human selection resulted in the establishment of a wide diversity of local landraces specifically adapted to dif -ferent agro-ecological zones. These dynamic populations with distinct identities are consid-ered to be genetically more diverse than currently cultivated varieties ( Figure 3 ); they show local adaptation and are associated with traditional farming systems [ 19]. The Mediterranean Basin comprises countries between 27° and 47°N and between 10°W and 37°E, including three continents with a coastline of 46,000 km. In this region, wheat is grown in a range of environmental conditions varying from favourable to dry land areas. In the Mediterranean Figure 3. Variability in spike morphology in durum wheat Mediterranean landraces. Wheat: A Crop in the Bottom of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69184 385 climate, most rain falls in autumn and winter, and a water deficit appears in spring, resulting in moderate stress for wheat around anthesis that increases in severity throughout the grain-filling period. However, the climatic conditions of the north and the south of the Mediterranean Basin have great differences. While the north has temperate and cold climates (classes C and D, respectively, according to the Koppen climate classification), the south has a dry climate (class B according to the same classification) [ 20 ].

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  Soil Erosion Issues in Agriculture

  • Danilo Godone, Silvia Stanchi, Danilo Godone, Silvia Stanchi(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • IntechOpen

    (Publisher)

  Part 3 Dry Environments 7 Hydrological Effects of Different Soil Management Practices in Mediterranean Areas Giuseppe Bombino, Vincenzo Tamburino, Demetrio Antonio Zema and Santo Marcello Zimbone Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria Department of Agro-Forest and Environmental Sciences and Technologies Italy 1. Introduction In Mediterranean environment intensive agricultural activities are often practiced in steep slopes, where sometimes climatic, geomorphologic and land use factors (e.g. the high rainfall intensity, the scarce vegetal coverage, especially on the occasion of the early rainfalls, the low organic matter content of soils, etc.) worsen the impacts of soil erosion. In such contexts agriculture may play an important role both in terms of economic and social spin-offs (e.g. peopling of hilly marginal lands) as well as under the environmental aspect (e.g. control of erosion phenomena). This is the case of olive growing practiced in hilly lands with a low tree density (e.g. in Southern Italy), often subjected to torrential rainstorms. Therefore, soil degradation problems in such agricultural steep lands under semi-arid conditions must be accounted for through proper soil management systems with low environmental impacts (mainly on soil hydrology). Until recently, the most common practice for soil conservation in many Mediterranean regions, as Andalusia (Spain, Gomez et al., 2003) and Sicily or Calabria (Italy) has been tillage: however, the tradition of frequent tillage, aimed at preventing competition from natural vegetation for water and nutrients with the olive tree and at facilitating olive harvesting, has exacerbated the problems of erosion and soil degradation (Gomez et al., 2009a).

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  Geomorphology and Global Environmental Change

  • Olav Slaymaker, Thomas Spencer, Christine Embleton-Hamann(Authors)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  Although the key point is sustainable and unsustainable productive agriculture and forestry, and biodiversity con-servation, it is also true that some sort of agreement has to be found between developers and conservationists, and between private and government landowners. Planning is necessary, taking into account social and economic inter-ests. Ecologically, the best planning leads to a mosaic, with the coexistence of forestry and agriculture as in traditional land uses, with intensive agriculture and leisure spaces con fi ned to speci fi c locations. For Thornes ( 2002 ), one of the major dif fi culties facing planning operations is the fact that the old Mediterranean Sea landscape is one of the most complicated in the world due to the essential diversity of the landscape arising from both its physical characteristics and its culture. The palimpsest character of this mosaic, which arises from its history, is such that the search for universal truths about causes and remedies for deserti fi cation and the appropriate actions to be taken are as diverse as the mosaic of the landscape itself. 11.8.4 Mediterranean perceptions Some cultural views may help to explain the different per-ceptions of Mediterranean environments (and see Racionero ( 1996 ) for the main dichotomies between Europeans and Mediterraneans). In the context of most studies, and possibly in this chapter, without denying at all the risks of global change, both natural and human-induced, in a fragile envi-ronment like the Mediterranean, there is a subtle view that implies the inhabitants of the Mediterranean Sea area cannot properly manage their own environment. North Europeans tend to consider the Mediterranean environment from their humid and stable, often human-constructed, landscapes, and overemphasise land degradation and deserti fi cation prob-lems, from the absence of forest vegetation and hydrological regime.

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  The Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes

  Human-Environment Interaction from the Neolithic to the Roman Period

  • Kevin Walsh(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  Lifeways in Mediterranean Environments 183 the first clear evidence for anthropogenic impact in the area (Stevenson 2000: 607). Despite the evidence for biomass availability being the fundamental control on fire occurrence in arid environments and the consequent rela- tively low frequency of fires during the Later Neolithic and Bronze Age, there are of course exceptions to this trend. The pollen site at Sierra de Gádor in southern Spain (1530 m) is a rare example of a pollen record from a truly Mediterranean arid zone (Carrión et al. 2003: 839). A series of major fires had a significant effect on the vegetation from c. 2200 BC. Bearing in mind the altitude of this site, the increase in fire activity may represent Bronze Age expansion into a new upland zone that had not been cleared prior to the Argaric period. Each vegetation-burning event has to be studied in context, and a clear assessment of natural or anthropogenic origins has to be made. Fire has always been an essential tool in humankind’s suite of environmental management options, and should be studied as the archetypal form of hybrid cultural–ecological practice – one which will be considered again in Chapter 8 as part of the discussion on Mediterranean mountains. AGRICULTURAL AND PRODUCTIVE VEGETATION More than most other regions around the world, the Mediterranean agricultural landscape is defined by its arboriculture, in particular the ubiquitous vines and olive trees, with stands of other tree crops such as pistachio, fig, and other fruits that inhabit the terraced landscapes. The range of crops grown across the Mediterranean has varied through time, and is the subject of books on agriculture and archaeobotany (e.g. Zohary & Hopf 2001). We know, for example, that Roman agriculture exploited a wide range of crops and trees well beyond the renowned Mediterranean triad of wheat, olives, and vines (Leveau et al. 1993).

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  Arid Lands

  Today And Tomorrow

  • Charles Hutchinson(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 19 General Geography Land-Use Evolution and Consequences in the Mediterranean Coastal Region of Egypt Mohamed G. Ayyad Botany Department, Faculty of Sciences University of Alexandria, Egypt G. Aubert Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique d'Outre-Mer Bondy, France E. Le Floc'h, G. Long and M. Pouget Centre L. Emberger Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Montpellier-Cedex, France ABSTRACT The increasing human pressure concurrent with recent socioeconomic changes in the Mediterranean coastal zone of Egypt effectuated fast development of land-use practices. Clearing of natural vege-tation for use as fuel wood and for agricultural purposes (cultivation of fruit trees and cereal crops) is conflicting with the mobility necessary for the rational traditional system of grazing, beside other land-use practices and activities of better income for inhabitants. The analysis and comparison of the present (1979) land-use patterns with those of thirty years ago, based on aerial photographs and field mapping provide evidence of the consistent specialization of various sectors of land for particular land-use practices. Such specialization may be attributed largely to certain socioeconomic changes and to the unsuccessful spontaneous extension of agriculture to certain sites. This special-ization does not halt the ongoing processes of environmental degradation. The assessments of the sensitivity of soil and vegetation, and the suitability of different ecos-ystems to different land-use practices, provide a means for the analysis of actual and potential sensitivities of ecosystems to degradation factors and to the risks and transformations that the ecosystems can withstand. INTRODUCTION The main aim of this paper is to provide a broad data base about the management of land resources in the rural areas of the western Mediterranean coastal region of Egypt. To achieve this aim, we had to meet the following objectives: a.

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