Alpine Valley Land Uses

By now you should be able to identify the north-facing and south-facing slopes and the shape of the valley! Why are these sloped cultivated?

Answers:

• the south-facing slope has the hay fields and barns in this U-shaped valley carved by alpine glaciation

• throughout Europe, farmers in difficult environments, e.g., mountains and coastal areas, are financially supported by their respective governments and/or by the European Union, if they are part of this Union. Europeans in general and tourists in particular enjoy cultivated rural landscapes and, therefore, are willing to subsidize farmers to be caretakers of the natural and cultural landscapes. The amount of money from mountain tourism far exceeds the farm subsidies.
  

• Look at the two graphs below for comparisons of farm subsidies for a select number of countries. Notice how high US subsidies per farmer are, even though the US talks a great deal about global "free trade."

  Source: The Economist, 27 November 1999.	Source: The Economist, 25 March 2000.