The (un)sustainability of the land use practices and agricultural production in EU countries

This paper investigates differences and analogies among European Union (EU) countries concerning the links between agricultural activities and the impact on the environment. It analyses land use practices and agricultural production with two specific sets of indicators provided by the Eurostat database. Factor analysis is used to identify the key aspects of (un)sustainable agriculture and their relative importance. Hierarchical cluster analysis is then applied to classify the 28 EU countries into ‘homogeneous’ groups. The paper concludes that the countries from the centre and the north of the EU have similar agricultural practices and production methods with a high impact on the environment. Mediterranean EU countries and those in the north-west of the EU, instead, use traditional agricultural methods such as meadows and grazing livestock. This study could be useful for policymakers wanting to define tools aimed at guiding producers towards more sustainable production methods.