Agriculture and Sustainability: a GIS Based Model to Appraise Incentive Policy

Abstract

Agriculture is the major form of protection of local identities and sustainability and one of the most fragile Italian economic sectors, exposed to fluctuations of the financial/economic crisis. As a consequence, boosting agricultural policies should integrate conflicting objectives connected to preservation and innovation, effectiveness/efficiency, and landscape features and job opportunities. Referring to a large land area located in the central part of Sicily (Italy) the paper proposes an assessment/planning pattern aimed at providing some axiological items and a specific algorithm able to appraise each specific land parcel, generating different strategies and selecting the best format of funding allocation. The pattern combines some WebGIS tools helpful for spatial analysis and management of the big data amount coming from the Landscape Regional Plan and the cadastral vector database. The general approach integrates monetary and qualitative features, as well as land estate and landscape values within a multidimensional pattern providing the quantitative conditions for supporting qualitative and sustainable development.