TY - JOUR
T1 - Landscape Agroecology. The dysfunctionalities of industrial agriculture and the loss of the circular bioeconomy in the Barcelona Region, 1956-2009
AU - Cattaneo, Claudio
AU - Marull, Joan
AU - Tello, Enric
PY - 2018/12/11
Y1 - 2018/12/11
N2 - © 2018 by the authors. The paper analyses how between 1956 and 2009 the agrarian metabolism of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) has become less functional, losing circularity in biomass flows and in relationship to its landscape. We do so by adopting a Multi-Energy Return on Investment (EROI) and flow-fund (MuSIASEM) analyses and the nexus with landscape functional structure. The study of agricultural flows of Final Produce, Biomass Reused and External Inputs is integrated with that of land use, livestock, power capacity, and population changes between 1956 (at the beginning of agrarian industrialization) and 2009 (fully industrialized agriculture). A multi-scale analysis is conducted at the landscape scale (seven counties within the Barcelona metropolitan region) as well as for the functions deployed, within an agroecosystem, by the mutual interactions between its funds (landscape, land-uses, livestock, and farming population). A complex nexus between land, livestock, dietary patterns, and energy needs is shown; we conclude that, from the perspective of the circular bioeconomy the agrarian sector has gone worse hand in hand with the landscape functional structure. Therefore, a novel perspective in landscape agroecology is opened.
AB - © 2018 by the authors. The paper analyses how between 1956 and 2009 the agrarian metabolism of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) has become less functional, losing circularity in biomass flows and in relationship to its landscape. We do so by adopting a Multi-Energy Return on Investment (EROI) and flow-fund (MuSIASEM) analyses and the nexus with landscape functional structure. The study of agricultural flows of Final Produce, Biomass Reused and External Inputs is integrated with that of land use, livestock, power capacity, and population changes between 1956 (at the beginning of agrarian industrialization) and 2009 (fully industrialized agriculture). A multi-scale analysis is conducted at the landscape scale (seven counties within the Barcelona metropolitan region) as well as for the functions deployed, within an agroecosystem, by the mutual interactions between its funds (landscape, land-uses, livestock, and farming population). A complex nexus between land, livestock, dietary patterns, and energy needs is shown; we conclude that, from the perspective of the circular bioeconomy the agrarian sector has gone worse hand in hand with the landscape functional structure. Therefore, a novel perspective in landscape agroecology is opened.
KW - Barcelona Metropolitan Region
KW - Circular bioeconomy
KW - Industrial agriculture
KW - Landscape agroecology
KW - MuSIASEM
KW - Multi-EROI
U2 - 10.3390/su10124722
DO - 10.3390/su10124722
M3 - Article
SN - 2071-1050
VL - 10
JO - Sustainability
JF - Sustainability
M1 - 4722
ER -