**Section 6**

**Agriculture and Human Health** 

222 Agricultural Science

Talekar, N. S. 1990. Agromyzid flies of food legumes in the tropics. Wiley Eastern Limited,

Vavilov, N.I. 1926. Studies on the origin of cultivated plants. *Bulletin of Applied Botany and* 

Vidhyasekaran, P. and Muthamilan, M. 1995. Development of formulation of *Pseudomonas fluorescens* for the control of chickpea wilt. *Plant Disease*, 79: 782-786.

New Delhi.

*Plant Breeding,* 16, No.2.

**11** 

*1SLU Alnarp 2LU Lund Sweden* 

**The Agricultural Landscape for Recreation** 

Food production is not the only use of our agricultural landscape. The landscape also fulfils basic human needs for recreation outside the urban fringe. This chapter describes a study of how certain qualities in the rural and semi-urban landscape correspond to well-being. The study covers Skåne, the southernmost region in Sweden as well as the most productive agricultural region. Large datasets on the environment – land use, land cover, environmental qualities, impacts, etc. – were associated with results from a major public health survey. The results were published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (Björk et al., 2008). The chapter explains in more detail the method used to assess environmental qualities using Geographical Information System (GIS), and the relevance of

A number of interview studies conducted between 1995 and 2005 in landscape architecture/environmental psychology (Grahn, Stigsdotter and Berggren-Bärring, 2005) have revealed eight characteristics of the outdoor environment (Serene, Wild, Lush, Spacious, the Common, the Pleasure garden, Festive/centre and Culture) that correspond to basic human needs. The line of research in which the eight characteristics were discovered has existed for decades. Already in 1989, Kaplan and Kaplan pointed out that sounds of nature can reduce stress and improve well-being. Several investigations have shown that people are often afflicted by illnesses related to stress (Grahn and Stigsdotter, 2003; Ottosson

Many studies have shown a relationship between urban green areas and health (Hartig et al., 1996; Ottosson and Grahn, 1998). When walking in a natural environment, people's blood pressure drops already after a few minutes (Hartig, 1993). Certain biotopes and habitats seem to have been of great importance during human evolution (Coss, 1991; Ulrich, 1993). When people are stressed or ailing and in pressed situations, the availability of such environments seems to be even more important. If people can visit environments with

and Grahn, 2005a; Ottosson and Grahn, 2005b; Ottosson and Grahn P. 2008).

**1. Introduction** 

**2. Background** 

\*Corresponding author

these qualities for well-being and health promotion.

Kim de Jong2, Maria Albin2, Jonas Ardö2 and Patrik Grahn1

Erik Skärbäck1,\*, John Wadbro1, Jonas Björk2,
