Therole of livestock production in landscape degradation (visible featuresof the land which interact with each other to create an interdependentwhole which separates it from adjacent areas of land) appears negligibleas compared to the pressure exerted by crop production and inconsideration of the scale of the Baltic catchment area. However, thisproblem has been attracting little attention, although it can besignificant at a local scale, which is why it will be address in thisanalysis.
Cropproduction most visibly affects primary and natural landscapes, whereaslivestock production, as is the case with urbanisation andindustrialisation, can degrade the ?cultural? (anthropogenic, economic)landscape of rural areas (which are put under heavy pressure fromagricultural activities, but still retain limited self-regulatingcapacity), transforming them into a devastated landscape (where naturalelements are replaced by anthropogenic elements, and must bere-cultivated).
Degradationand negative remodelling of the elements of agricultural productionspace by industrial livestock production brings about the followingphenomena:
Theimpact of large-scale livestock production on the landscape isparticularly significant in areas of precious and protected landscape.The potential negative impact on the structure and aesthetic qualitiesof the post-glacial landscape of the Polish-German 'Post-glacial Landover the Oder River' Geopark was the main argument of individuals whocontested the construction of a large-scale mink farm in Moryń in 2010.