The reduction of cultivated area: between structural evolution of the agricultural sector and anthropization

From 1970 to 2010 the Italian Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) decreased by almost 5 million hectares. This reduction can entail negative consequences since the primary sector produces crucial non-commodity outputs for the collectivity, such as landscape maintenance or hydrogeological risk mitigation. The reasons of the UAA decline are mainly two: the abandonment of farming activities and anthropization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate in which areas prevails one of these two factors in determining the reduction of UAA. This aim has been achieved by using a multivariate methodology: the Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA). Thanks to this method, it was possible to map the Italian municipalities according to the two reasons of the reduction of UAA.From 1970 to 2010 the Italian Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) decreased by almost 5 million hectares. This reduction can entail negative consequences since the primary sector produces crucial non-commodity outputs for the collectivity, such as landscape maintenance or hydrogeological risk mitigation. The reasons of the UAA decline are mainly two: the abandonment of farming activities and anthropization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate in which areas prevails one of these two factors in determining the reduction of UAA. This aim has been achieved by using a multivariate methodology: the Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA). Thanks to this method, it was possible to map the Italian municipalities according to the two reasons of the reduction of UAA