Agricultural land use and landscape changes in Rostrup, Denmark: processes of intensification and extensification

This article examines some of the landscape changes which have accompanied agricultural developments in Denmark over the past 25 years. GIS is used to analyse the spatial aspects of the changes in Rostrup, Denmark, highlighting the polarisation of the farming community into small part-time or hobby farms and large full-time farms. The analysis of landscape changes between 1973 and 1995 indicates that both full-time and part-time farms are involved in extensification of land use. The classification of farms according to economic key factors alone is too coarse to estimate the potential improvement of ‘nature values’ in rural landscapes.