Crops

Humidity and a short growing season limit agriculture in the Alps. Despite unfavorable climatic conditions, it was important for farmers to be self-sufficient as long as transport routes were poorly developed. The upper limit of permanent settlements was determined by the climatic limit of arable farming: approximately 1000m on the northern slopes of the Alps, and up to 2000m on the southern slopes and in the dry inner-Alpine zones. (At an altitude of 2042m, Saint-Véran in the Hautes-Alpes department near the Italian border is the highest politically independent municipality in the Alps.)