Optimization of agriculture in relation to the multifunctional role of the landscape

Currently, there is much discussion about the future of Czech agricultural policy and landscape management systems. In recent years, the Czech Ministries of Agriculture and Environment have been funding numerous projects oriented toward crop production restructuring and landscape management mainly in the submontane and montane regions. The lowlands and plains are exploited for intensive agricultural production, but the results of our research show that in the most agriculturally intensive areas, up to 350 m above sea level, unchecked denaturalization of Czech rivers and their general ecological status has occurred. Our large-scale study on the ecological importance of Moravian rivers has clearly shown the necessity to reclaim part of the arable land in favour of forests and permanent grasslands in flood plains, particularly along the plain rivers. In order to diminish the percentage of those Moravian rivers and floodplains which have been strongly impacted upon or are even considered to be entirely artificial, both reclamation and restoration are essential.