The decline of small farms in the Serra de Monchique cannot be explained by farming practices alone. Food systems changed. Large retailers offered consumers enormous choice, convenience and increasingly centralised distribution. Small farms struggled to compete on price and volume. As profitability declined, land was abandoned.
Terraces deteriorated. Water systems disappeared. Grazing declined. Knowledge was lost. Vegetation accumulated. The consequences therefore extended beyond food production. When a local food economy disappears, the landscape can lose the people who once had an economic reason to maintain it.