Most European landscapes have been transformed by millenia of human occupation. Agricultural landscapes include a series of man-made features established to reduce erosion (terraces, hedgerows, grassed waterways etc.). In hill regions of unconsolidated deposits and intensive farming the pattern of land use (the sizes and positions of fields, their boudaries) are of major significance both for soil and nature conservation.

The paper reports on investigations in Germany and Hungary, two countries where land use is in transformation. In Germany the unfavourable consequences of the formation of too large fields for mechanised farming are being eliminated and the renaturalisation of the drainage network has also begun. In Hungary the re-privatisation of the land of collective farms also provides an opportunity for the planning of an environmentally more acceptable rural land use pattern in the place of large-scale fields. During the implementation of the privatisation process, however, no landscape ecological considerations were observed and an extreme compartmentalisation of the landscape followed. Because of their shape (elongated stripes, often aligned downslope) and size (in many areas below 1 hectare), the cultivation of new plots does not harmonise with the historical pattern of the landscape as well as it is economically unprofitable. From certain viewpoints (eg. the application of chemicals), it may cause more damage than large-scale farming.

During the transition period in the test areas large tracts of land are left uncultivated and the unsettled land ownership discourages farmers from investing in the formation of an environmentally friendly pattern (plot sizes adjusted to topography and drainage, restoration of terraces and hedgerows etc.). Even the soil amelioration facilities (drain-pipes, irrigation canals, terraced slopes etc.) implemented by the former cooperative farms are falling to neglect or damaged. Forests stands have also been privatised and forest clearing increases the hazard of erosion in hills.

The increased erosion hazard and other environmental impacts underline author's conviction that in addition to proprietal, economic, political, employment and other considerations, the success of design of land ownership pattern changes can also be evaluated on landscape ecological grounds.