Landscape Agroecology. The Dysfunctionalities of Industrial Agriculture and the Loss of the Circular Bioeconomy in the Barcelona Region, 1956–2009

Claudio Cattaneo, Joan Marull and Enric Tello
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Claudio Cattaneo: Department of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Jostova 10, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Joan Marull: Barcelona Institute of Metropolitan and Regional Studies, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08195 Bellaterra, Spain

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-22

Abstract: The paper analyses how between 1956 and 2009 the agrarian metabolism of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) has become less functional, losing circularity in biomass flows and in relationship to its landscape. We do so by adopting a Multi-Energy Return on Investment (EROI) and flow-fund (MuSIASEM) analyses and the nexus with landscape functional structure. The study of agricultural flows of Final Produce, Biomass Reused and External Inputs is integrated with that of land use, livestock, power capacity, and population changes between 1956 (at the beginning of agrarian industrialization) and 2009 (fully industrialized agriculture). A multi-scale analysis is conducted at the landscape scale (seven counties within the Barcelona metropolitan region) as well as for the functions deployed, within an agroecosystem, by the mutual interactions between its funds (landscape, land-uses, livestock, and farming population). A complex nexus between land, livestock, dietary patterns, and energy needs is shown; we conclude that, from the perspective of the circular bioeconomy the agrarian sector has gone worse hand in hand with the landscape functional structure. Therefore, a novel perspective in landscape agroecology is opened.

Keywords: landscape agroecology; MuSIASEM; Multi-EROI; circular bioeconomy; Barcelona Metropolitan Region; industrial agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:12:p:4722-:d:189773

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