The share of agriculture on the case study region GDP is 2% and the share on the labour force is even lower – only 1.5%.  The characteristic feature of the CSR “Northern Bohemia” is its turbulent demographic and socio-economic development. The majority of population in this region were Germans who were expelled after 1945. The new settlement was unstable, people migrated in and out of the region frequently. Because of the lack of people agriculture and manufacturing industry collapsed after world war 2, later they both recovered. However, the infrastructure remained fairly underdeveloped compared to other parts of the country. Agriculture and textile industry experienced a further shock during the transition period in the 1990s. People moved out again.

The population density of 118 inhabitants per km² is 12% below the national average (135 inhab./km²), the focus area namely Sluknov area is located on the frontier between predominantly rural and intermediate regions according to the OECD methodology. Due to the lack of labour force, most of the arable land was converted into grassland. The conversion was accelerated to a large extent by investors who envisaged extensive agriculture as a mean for collecting income supports (direct payments, LFA payments). The conversion went hand in hand with the introduction of beef cattle. The livestock density is however low around 0.2 livestock unit per hectare.