Climate Change and the European Water Dimension - Agri ...

Regions 1 to 5 represent mainly a market-oriented agriculture, which has been
heavily influenced by the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). While in region 1
(Scandinavia) climate and soil conditions are the limiting factors, which allow only for
a small fraction of the land to be cultivated, region 2 (British Isles) is characterised by
the wet conditions along the Atlantic coast, resulting in a dominance of grasslands
and extensive cattle breeding. Region 3 (Western Europe) is mainly characterised by
small-scale, mixed or large-scale intensive arable and lifestock farming. Region 4
(Mediterranean) offers a broad range of agricultural patterns due to largely variable
environmental, technological and socio-economic conditions. This region is
characterized by a market-oriented agriculture of crops, fruit trees, grapes and olives,
including considerable areas of traditional agriculture. In the Alpine region (5) both
market-oriented and transitional forms of agriculture from extensive mixed to marketoriented
farming occur. Regions 6 and 7 (North Eastern and South Eastern Europe),
which encompass many of the New Member States, include market-based and
traditional as well as socialised agriculture with root crops and cereals as the main
products. Here the share of socialised agriculture has been rapidly diminishing since
the political changes of the late 1980s, with a strong trend towards a market-based
agriculture of the West-European type. Yields in these two regions are, however, low
due to the still low production intensity. Region 8 (Eastern), which is the European
part of the former USSR, is dominated by large-scale socialised agriculture with a
trend to a more quality-oriented agriculture (Olesen and Bindi, 2002; Parry, 2000;
Kostrowicki, 1991).
In North European countries (Regions 1 and 2) low temperatures are a major limiting
factor for agriculture. Climatic constraints limiting crop production include the length
of the growing season, late spring and early autumn soil frost and incoming solar
radiation. In addition, wet conditions along the Atlantic coast limit the extent of cereal
cultivation in these areas, which are mostly dedicated to pasture. In the
Mediterranean (Region 4), to the contrary, cereal cultivation is mainly limited by hot
and dry weather conditions, which are more favourable for the cultivation of
permanent crops such as olives and grapes.
Figure V.D.1. Major Agricultural Regions in Europe (Olesen & Bindi, 2002)
From a climatic point of view, the most productive regions of Europe are located in
central Europe including Southeast England, Northern France, Benelux, Germany
and Poland (mainly Regions 3 and 6). Considering the total agricultural area and its
share of the total land surface, the most important agricultural regions of Europe are
the British Isles, Western Europe, the Mediterranean, the North Eastern and the
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