How the History of European
Agriculture can Shape its Future
Carole L. Crumley
Swedish Biodiversity Centre (CBM)
Swedish Agricultural University (SLU)
and
Integrated History and Future of People on Earth (IHOPE)
Uppsala University
and
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
REPORTING RESEARCH of the FRENCH PROJECT
What is historical ecology?
Historic Earth Sciences
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Past and Present Human Activity
Historical Ecology
Is an integrative framework drawn from
the environmental sciences, archaeology, ecology, anthropology, geography
• Links human and earth system history
• Holistic, practical perspective
• Broad temporal and spatial breadth
• Independent data provide crosscheck
• Builds consensus
USE WHAT WORKS
Historical Ecology studies Landscapes:
Past, Present, Future
• Landscapes are physical manifestations of the humanenvironment relationship
• Humans have modified landscapes for over two million
years
• The history of landscapes shapes their future:
initial conditions (example: geology, altitude)
path dependence (example: soils retain the history of
their previous management)
The European Landscape
Agrarian History of Europe
• By 6000 years ago, a suite of
plants and animals--some
indigenous to Europe and others
introduced from many different
regions and climates--had formed
the basis of European farming
Domestication of wheat:
10,000 years
• These species and practices were
the foundation of European
agriculture until several decades
after WW II.
Domestication of cattle:
more than 8,000 years
Agrarian History of Europe
• Many species were first
domesticated in the Middle
East
• They came by two routes:
from Anatolia across
Northern Europe and along
the North Mediterranean
littoral
European Neolithic Farms (6000 BP)
Agrarian History of Europe
Iron Age Farm (3000-2000 years ago)
Medieval Farm (1600-400 years ago)
Roman Villa (2100-1800 years ago)
• The genetic and behavioral variety of this suite of indigenous
and imported plants and animals reduced farmers’ risk.
Agrarian History of Europe
Species continued to be
imported from elsewhere.
The tomato, first domesticated
in Central America, was
introduced to Europe by
Spanish conquistadors in the
sixteenth century
French farm in the early twentieth century
The potato, first domesticated
in South America, was also
introduced in the sixteenth
century
French farm in the 1950s
Six Thousand Years of Land Use &
Environmental Change
in Rural Southern Burgundy (France)
Our research integrates:
Geology, Hydrology, Geomorphology), Climatology, Palynology,
Dendrochronology, Archaeology, Ethnobotany, Ethnography,
Maps and Documents
Data Management
Our research integrates & synthesizes
spatial data within a GIS context:
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Aerial survey and satellite imagery
Digitized historic and modern maps
GPS collection of ground site points
Archival aerial reconnaissance photos
Archaeological field survey and excavation
Ethnographic and historical document analysis
Advanced visualization and modeling techniques
Climate History
at Multiple Temporal and Spatial Scales
Global, N. Hemisphere, Continental, Regional, Local
a) Global and Northern Hemisphere Climate Change
b) Continental and Sub-Continental Scale Climate Change
Maritime
Maritime
Continental
Maritime
Continental
Continental
Mediterranean
Mediterranean
1200BC – 300BC
Mediterranean
300BC – 300AD
<<Roman optimum>>
300 AD – 900 AD
Range of climatic variation
In Europe
Three Regimes meet over Burgundy
c) Regional and Sub-Regional Scale Climate Change
La Loire
Arroux River, Loire tributary
The stratigraphic record allows reconstruction
of both climate and the rivers’ erosion history
d) Local Scale Climate Change
Woodlands have been carefully managed
for centuries Burgundy’s six-thousand-year
oak chronology is an important climate proxy
The pond at the Chateau de Lucenier
(eleventh century)
Geologists core the region’s ancient ponds
Pollen from pond sediments reconstruct pond dynamics
and local vegetation history
Landscape Diversity: a Key Regional Feature
Multifunctional Rural Landscape of Burgundy
(forest, pasture, arable)
Intense Industrial Agriculture in the Paris Basin
Archaeological Excavation and Survey
combine with documentary and other evidence to form a picture of settlement
in different periods.
Mont Dardon
excavation of Mont Dardon:
2400 years of occupation
Roman industrial zone and villa
200 years of occupation
Along with archaeology and environmental studies, documents
and interviews trace land use change over time
Continuity and Rupture in Agrarian History:
The Valley of the Arroux
In the entire past three millennia, Roman period industrial
farming practices created the greatest damage because:
Continuity and Rupture in Agrarian History:
The Valley of the Arroux, Burgundy
To feed urban populations, the Empire forced “bread basket”
regions (such as Burgundy) to produce only grain
(mono-cropping)
Many earlier advances (such as field rotation) were abandoned,
increasing short-term yields but also erosion and the
loss of soil fertility
Beginning around AD 270, erratic climate devastated harvests
Less hardy species (such as grapes), imported from the
Mediterranean, were particularly vulnerable
Burdened with exorbitant taxes and low yields, peasants
abandoned farmland
Without maintenance, farmland reverted to scrub and forest
A Successful Adaptive Strategy
Little Ice Age (ca. 1300-1850 AD) conditions gave rise to
communal farms in Burgundy
The communauté of Grand Dardon
Documents and architecture trace the growth of
the community
Members of these communities held the land in common and elected work
managers from among their number; this form of household economy was
particularly effective in times of environmental and economic crisis
A Contemporary Adaptive Strategy?
The Cassini maps (1759) and other historic maps permit
reconstruction of pond and forest history
Site of an old pond
Beginning in the Middle Ages hundreds of ponds were an important
commercial and domestic resource in Uxeau parish. What value
would pond restoration bring to the area today?
Historically, Burgundy has raised ruminants
Horses and cattle 2500 years ago, Charolais breed cattle and sheep today
Many European Union subsidies are tied to herd size & structure
Farms remain family-owned
but their number has decreased as their average size has quadrupled
Specialization reduces diversity of practice
and sources for farm income
For a combination of economic and social reasons, fewer and
fewer farms raise other animals
For example, the constraints of EU regulations for milk products has
hastened the disappearance of domestic goat cheese production and
removed an additional source of household income; remaining farms
that make goat cheese have specialized
At a different spatial and temporal scale, household gardens
retain the scheduling and species diversity characteristics of
historic farm management
Economic Change Ripples through Rural Society
New barns required by the EU cost 300 000 euros
Young farmers must complete four years of formal
agricultural training to manage the family farm
They take on much more debt than their predecessors, a
source of intergenerational friction
Farmers are pressed to specialize
Farms are closely monitored by satellite and farmers’
much valued autonomy is curtailed
Farmers face uncertain markets and subsidies, and threats
to herd health
In fewer than two decades, the scale of farming
has changed dramatically and the historic
diversity of practice has vanished
Increased climate variability poses challenges
to EU agricultural policy
Dominance of Mediterranean regime
February through October, 2003
2003
2008
Following a 2002 drought, the 2003 heat wave
and drought killed 20,000 people in France
Temperatures August 2003
Intensified land use--such as the canalization of marshy areas
and the removal of hedgerows to increase pasturage--increases
the severity of valley flooding, already in danger due to
impermeable surfaces and building in floodplains
The Loire in flood following the 2003
drought, January 2004
The subsidy for protecting hedgerows is
not as attractive as that for increasing herd
size
The endless rains of 2007
“une saison de moississure”
The seasonal rhythm is broken
the variability of weather is likely to increase in the future
“out of season” weather ruins harvests, makes
planning difficult
human societies respond effectively to weather extremes but
not to highly variable short term conditions
the most variable period in French history was the decade
before the French Revolution
unpredictable climatic variability = increased agricultural vulnerability
EU CAP and other one-size-fits-all regulations afford farmers little
flexibility in the face of increased seasonal variability.
Increased herd size:
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Favors pasture over other land uses
Destroys hedgerows and deciduous cover
Reduces wild species populations
Diminishes water retention in pastures
Increases erosion
Compromises herd health
• Endangers regional economy
Landscape-Scale Management
• management of complex systems requires a holistic approach
• the future holds risks but vulnerability can be reduced
risk = uncertainty about possible undesirable outcomes
climate change puts all European farmers at risk
vulnerability = conditions that increase negative impact
less diverse farms and regions are more vulnerable
• humans can be part of the solution: search regional history for
place-specific management ideas
Millennia of knowledge about resilient productive landscapes
is being lost.
Can we learn how to apply these lessons today?