By Thomas Dax, Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research (BAB), Austria.
In the past, mountains have been primarily perceived as places distant from centers of economic and cultural development. This led to common views that these areas represent Less-Favoured Areas (LFA) and, consequently, consensus for public support to farming activities in those areas has gradually risen since the European Commission defined mountains (1975) as the type of areas most affected by LFA challenges.
