Landscape changes during 1954-1998 in the districts of Toholampi, Nurmijärvi and Liperi, in west, south and east Finland,are described in relation to agricultural modernization. The following landscape indices are used to analyze development in these areas from the viewpoint of landscape ecology: Shannon's evenness (SHEI), patch density (PD),edge density (ED) and percentages of land use composition (%LAND). Variables describing modernization and the numbers of farms and tractors are measured in relation to field area. Changes in distribution among patches were indicated to be decreasing. Changes in patch densities and edge lengths imply noticeable simplifications of the visual landscape. Surprisingly, the areas of the buffer zones in Toholampi and Nurmijärvi increased steadily during the period concerned. At the same time, two-thirds of the farms gave up agriculture and field sizes per farm trebled. In addition, in all three areas there was not more than an average of 8.7 ha field area per tractor in 1998, a decline from 265 ha per tractor in 1950, reflecting agricultural mechanization. Thus socio-economic changes imply changes in the local farming culture and need to be considered together with the level of landscape diversity.