Potential impact of the EU 2003 CAP reform on land idling decisions of French landowners: Results from a survey of intentions

The 2003 reform of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) introduced Single Farm Payments (SFPs) which are decoupled payments conditional on cross-compliance, and allows these payments to be claimed for land kept fully idle but maintained in good agricultural and environmental conditions (GAEC). This paper focuses on the potential impact of the reform on land idling decisions in France with the help of a survey of the intentions of landowners. Both operator and non-operator landowners were considered since, although SFP entitlements are owned only by operator landowners in France, non-operator landowners may now have a higher incentive to switch to operating land by idling land and maintaining it under GAEC in order to claim SFPs. The key variables in landowners’ decisions to idle land in GAEC appear to be both monetary and non-monetary. Despite the likely difference in conversion and cross-compliance costs, operators and non-operators were shown to be equally uninterested in GAEC, suggesting that no dramatic changes in terms of idling land should occur in France as a result of the 2003 reform.     

Local residents’ perceptions of energy landscape: the case of transmission lines

Although the transmission line network is relatively comprehensive in many countries, there are new needs to develop the networks due to the increased consumption of energy and new decentralized energy sources. However, compared with other large-scale infrastructure in the landscape, there has been relatively little research on the perceptions of transmission lines. Consequently, the aim of this study was to analyse how transmission lines are perceived in comparison with other landscape elements and how the perceptions of existing transmission lines differ from those concerning new lines. Finally, the heterogeneity of the perceptions was examined with the aid of the latent class method. The study was based on survey data from an urban fringe community in southern Finland. The results confirmed the presupposition that transmission lines are generally perceived as negative landscape elements, both when long-established and when new. However, the perceptions among the residents were heterogeneous. This heterogeneity was explained with environmental attitudes and leisure activities as well as knowledge and land ownership. The results have implications for planning, public communication and participation related to transmission lines, as well as other visually dominating man-made structures in the landscape.