cultivar_22_Final_EN

Dynamics of agricultural land use in Portugal 79 Changes in the number of AWUs per hectare of UAA also show that this restructuring trend is part of a process of modernisation and/or extensification. For each hectare of UAA much less labour is used, a sign of more extensive farming in some cases and more modern/mechanised farming in others. It should be recalled that the analysis of a set of farm variables back in 1990 showed a clear struc- tural weakness in a wide range of holdings. This weakness, combined with the producers’ difficulty in organising themselves in order to concentrate sup- ply, has hugely complicated processes of succession and continuity of farm holdings, in addition to hin- dering the ability to generate an acceptable income. It should also be noted that in 1989 the producers’ average age ranged from 55 to 60 years, with only 4% having completed secondary or higher education (3.0% in BL and 2.9% in EDM). Management practices were also very poorly developed: more than 94% of the farms did not keep accounts nor any systematic record of income and expenditure, and in Beira Lito- ral and Entre Douro e Minho this figure reached 97% and 96% respectively. iii) Land cover Examining changes in the main types of area that make up UAA shows yet another type of dynamics. Regardless of the region, there is a very sharp drop in the area occupied by arable land. In mainland Portugal, between 1989 and 2019, there was a 56.8% decrease (a 13.1% drop between 2009 and 2019), and in the Algarve it fell by more than 70%. In the Alentejo, the 60.2% drop in arable land represents nearly 770,000 ha that changed its use. Much of the area occupied by arable land was con- verted into permanent pasture, and the widespread increase in this type of area should be highlighted: 166% in mainland Portugal (16.8% between 2009 and 2019) and more than 234% in the Alentejo (16.7% between 2009 and 2019), corresponding in this region to an increase of about 918 thousand ha of grassland. Figure 10 – Annual Work Units per hectare of UAA (1989-2019) Source : 1989AC, 1999AC, 2009AC and 2019AC and intermediate FSS