agreste

Agreste cahiers n° 1 - mars 2001

Grazing lands decline in many breeding regions from 1992 to 1999.

Grazing lands decline in many breeding regions from 1992 to 1999. Elsewhere agricultural areas are becoming « mixed » zones, where the land is classed as farmland, natural, or developed land, without any one type dominating. This is often a transitory phase, because of urbanisation around cities naturally, but also because of the return of abandoned farmland to natural land. Such is the case in the mountains or the Mediterranean south, where areas classed as « moors, trails and alpine pastures » are evolving into forests. The large ongoing changes in French land use are studied by Teruti, the annual land use survey. This analysis tool effectively monitors natural and agricultural lands, and is also useful in tracking the advancement of land development in rural and semi-urban areas.