Il costo opportunità del miglioramento del paesaggio e la Mid Term Review nella Regione Veneto

The European Landscape Convention defines landscape as "an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors". Rural landscape can therefore be considered as the visual appearance of agrarian ecosystems. There is a close relationship between the landscape and primary activities, even although landscape can be considered one of the main agriculture externalities. In terms of landscape aspects, the agrarian ecosystem is characterised by production systems whose choice is linked either to profitability, such as traditional crops which tend to have no improving effect on the landscape, or to cropping systems which, on the contrary, show a general tendency to increase the aesthetics. The latter are essentially meadows, linear elements like hedges, scattered trees, or more complex agro-forestry systems, like woodlands . The European Union directives on the subject of the common agricultural policy (CAP) can be considered mainly responsible for the changes to the landscape structure of the rural territory. The current situation reflects the package of reforms introduced with Agenda 2000 and the very recent proposal of the Mid Term Review (MTR), which introduces important modifications such as the decoupling of the subsidy from the crop. The aim of this study was to analyse the trade-off between the aesthetic value of the rural landscape and farmers’ incomes, with reference to Agenda 2000 and the new scenario represented by ratification of the MTR. The context is the Veneto plain in Italy.