Farming systems in marginal or less favored areas of Europe have faced a multitude of challenges as a response to so-called “mega-trends”. A typical response has been land abandonment. The focus of this paper is on the farming systems of the Greek islands of Lesvos and Lemnos. These neighboring islands are geographically very similar but differ greatly in their farming systems, resulting in different responses to the same megatrends. While land abandonment is widespread in the small-scale olive groves of Lesvos, on Lemnos specialization towards animal and dairy products is more common. We performed land cover analysis and interviews with farmers in both areas, in two complementing rounds: one more quantitative that recorded recent changes and farmer rationales and a more qualitative one that investigated longer term trends and decision-making patterns. The analysis revealed that, among others, land ownership and inheritance patterns matter in both areas in different ways, leading to diverse trajectories. On Lemnos, as part of the traditional mixed-farming system (Mandra), land leasing is dominant, separating land users and landowners. Interviews also reveal the different symbolic capital, as olive trees on Lesvos are considered a family asset and not just a land use, something that cannot be said of the leased grazing lands on Lemnos. The market value of the different products is important, but the different trajectories also demonstrate how the rationales behind the responses to mega-trends can guide which trajectories will be dominant in the area. This article highlights the complexity and mix of local drivers and global trends that drive abandonment at both farm and the landscape scales and guides the formulation and application of agricultural policies and public resources for improved management of marginal areas.

作为对所谓“大趋势”的回应，欧洲边缘或不太受青睐地区的农业系统面临着众多挑战。一个典型的反应是土地废弃。本文的重点是希腊莱斯沃斯岛和莱姆诺斯岛的农业系统。这些邻近岛屿在地理上非常相似，但它们的耕作系统却大不相同，导致对相同大趋势的不同反应。虽然土地遗弃在莱斯沃斯的小规模橄榄园中普遍存在，但在莱姆诺斯，对动物和奶制品的专业化更为普遍。我们在两个补充回合中对这两个地区的农民进行了土地覆盖分析和访谈：一种更定量的记录最近的变化和农民的基本原理，另一种更定性的研究长期趋势和决策模式。分析显示，除其他外，土地所有权和继承模式在这两个地区以不同的方式发挥作用，导致不同的轨迹。在 Lemnos，作为传统混合农业系统的一部分（Mandra），土地租赁占主导地位，将土地使用者和土地所有者分开。采访还揭示了不同的象征性资本，因为莱斯沃斯岛上的橄榄树被认为是一种家庭资产，而不仅仅是一种土地用途，这对于莱姆诺斯岛上的租用牧场来说是不能说的。不同产品的市场价值很重要，但不同的轨迹也表明了应对大趋势背后的基本原理如何指导哪些轨迹将在该领域占据主导地位。本文强调了在农场和景观尺度上驱动遗弃的当地驱动因素和全球趋势的复杂性和组合，并指导农业政策和公共资源的制定和应用，以改善对边缘地区的管理。