A comprehensive assessment of multifunctional agricultural land-use systems in Spain using a multi-dimensional evaluative model

European agriculture is increasingly involved in nature conservation. Careful assessment of the ecosystems created by agriculture is essential for the evaluation of the sustainability of the interaction between agriculture and these systems. We consider two main requirements for agricultural sustainability: (a) ecological integrity: the maintenance of ecosystem functionality and (b) ecological coherence: the appropriate connection between the production system and the underlying ecosystem. This viewpoint emphasizes the sustaining capacity of the ecosystem as the basis of agricultural production, independent of its conventional economic value (profitability). The application of these ideas implies the investigation of relationships between both the different functions of agriculture and the dimensions relevant for the evaluation of the sustainability of agriculture. We apply a multidimensional evaluation model to some characteristic Spanish agricultural landscapes and compare the results with contrasting reference scenarios. The value of each dimension of sustainability is assessed using a semi-quantitative procedure. Results show that strongly contrasting agricultural systems can be categorized into well-defined groups on the basis of the sustainability dimensions. These groups play an increasingly divergent role in nature conservation. This analysis contributes to the discussion of consequences of European policies on the conservation of agricultural landscapes.