Rural landscape changes in some areas of the Po Valley in Italy

Surveys of some sample farms, together with data from satellite remote-sens ing and analysis of historical maps, allowed detection of the main landscap e changes in some areas of the Po Valley, where the greatest changes have b een in the farming sector. Unlike in the past, agriculture has now become e ssentially monocultural, with a tendency towards specialisation both in ter ms of the individual farm and in terms of area, as each area tends to be ch aracterised by a particular crop combination with a rather simple, monotono us landscape.