Czech organic farmers’ perception of landscape elements

Summary

This paper aims to identify the main aspects of farmers´ motivation to farm organically and their activities relating to changes in landscape composition. Organic farmers’ perceptions of landscape elements were observed through questionnaires completed by 87 farmers in the Czech Republic. The majority of farmers (88.5%) stated that environment-friendly farming practices were the main reason to enter the organic farming system. A large number of farmers (69%) stated that they have problems with some constraining conditions and rules in agri-environmental measures. Regarding the size of farms, small farms were more willing to devote part of their farmland to landscape elements. Respondents who farmed in LFA areas and landscape protected areas mentioned more types of landscape elements than farmers from intensive production areas. At the moment, organic certification is concerned only with monitoring and limiting external inputs in the organic farming system. Therefore, it is necessary to start work on a new certification system which will evaluate particular organic farm achievements with regard to impact on landscape, biodiversity, and the environment. Nearly 82% of respondents in our survey were aware of room for improvement regarding these issues.