| Titre : | Aesthetic preferences of non-farmers and farmers for different land-use types and proportions of ecological compensation areas in the Swiss lowlands (2011) |
| Auteurs : | Xenia Junge, Auteur ; Petra Lindemann-Matthies, Auteur ; Marcel Hunziker, Auteur ; Beatrice Schuepbach, Auteur |
| Type de document : | Article |
| Dans : | Biological Conservation (144(5) MAY 2011) |
| Article en page(s) : | 1430-1440 |
| Langues: | Anglais |
| Résumé : | Beyond its traditional function of food production, agricultural land offers public amenities such as the protection of natural resources and landscape scenery. This study investigates the preferences of non-farmers and farmers for nine landscape scenarios in the Swiss lowlands. The nine landscapes were the result of a photo editing process combining three land-use types (arable crops, grassland and a mixture of both) and three proportions of ecological compensation areas (0%, 10% and 30%). The landscape photographs were randomly arranged on one page of a paper-based questionnaire which was sent to a random sample of 4000 Swiss households (non-farmers) and 500 farmers. The respondents (1376 non-farmers and 276 farmers) rated each landscape by attractiveness. Both non-farmers and farmers preferred a mixed land-use type or one dominated by arable crops over one dominated by grassland. Non-farmers' preference ratings were highly influenced by the proportion of ecological compensation areas (ECAs) in the rated landscape: Non-farmers rated a landscape with a mixed land-use type and 30% ECAs highest, whereas farmers rated a landscape dominated by arable crops and 10% ECAs highest. The results indicate that heterogeneous landscapes (mixed land use, high proportion of ECAs) influence scenic beauty positively. Thus, farming practices and agro-environment schemes such as ECAs can have an impact on the visual attractiveness of a landscape. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |



