The fast and broad adoption of mechanization and chemical inputs in Mediterranean terraced agriculture, combined with warming climate trends, has led to the progressive degradation of environmental and social conditions. These factors have concurred with the increasing abandonment of smallholder agriculture. We aimed to detect and quantify the progression of cultivated and abandoned terraced fields in the Ricote Valley between 2016 and 2019 while also exploring reasons for land abandonment over the past decades. To quantify cultivated and abandoned agricultural terraces, we conducted (1) a terrace detection based on Lidar and cadaster data, (2) a land use classification based on Sentinel imagery, and (3) an investigation of the reasons for land abandonment based on participant observation and an expert survey. Our results show high rates of abandonment compared to the total available agricultural terraced area in the Ricote Valley. In 2016, 56% of the detected terraced area was classified as not cultivated. In 2019, the percentage decreased to 40%. Small parcels are cultivated to a higher percentage than large or medium-sized parcels. We identified five main reasons underlying land abandonment: (1) low income of farmers; (2) land fragmentation resulting in higher transaction costs; (3) lack of interest in agricultural activities among young generations; (4) lack of modernization; and (5) emotional bonds preventing the sale of abandoned parcels. We stressed the importance of a place-based mixed method approach to gain a comprehensive understanding of the specificities of a given research area.

在地中海梯田农业中，机械化和化学投入的快速和广泛采用，再加上气候变暖趋势，已导致环境和社会条件的逐步恶化。这些因素与小农农业的放弃越来越一致。我们旨在检测和量化2016年至2019年里科特河谷耕地和废弃梯田的发展，同时探索过去几十年土地被遗弃的原因。为了量化耕种和废弃的农业梯田，我们进行了以下工作：（1）基于激光雷达和地籍数据进行梯田检测，（2）基于Sentinel图像的土地利用分类，以及（3）基于参与者的土地废弃原因调查观察和专家调查。我们的结果表明，与里科特河谷的可用农业梯田总面积相比，废弃率很高。2016年，检测到的梯田面积中有56％被归类为未耕种。在2019年，这一比例下降到40％。与大中型包裹相比，小宗地的种植比例更高。我们确定了造成土地遗弃的五个主要原因：（1）农民收入低；（2）土地分割导致交易成本增加；（3）对年轻一代的农业活动缺乏兴趣；（4）缺乏现代化；（5）情感纽带阻止了废弃包裹的销售。我们强调了基于位置的混合方法方法对于全面了解特定研究领域的特异性的重要性。