In regions of extensive forest cover relative to agricultural open ground, as in northern Scandinavia, farmland abandonment greatly changes the landscape pattern. Cultivation of herbaceous energy crops would help to keep an open landscape as a positive side effect of bioenergy production and the lowland rental costs of abandoned farmland would positively improve the economy of energy grass cultivation. For this study, in the municipality of Bjurholm in the northeast of Sweden, a method was developed to separate abandoned fields into two classes, A and 13, with low and high preparation costs, respectively, by using digital orthophoto interpretation. From field studies of a chosen sample, the mean preparation cost per hectare was determined to be 173 and 3990 SEK, respectively, for fields in class A and B. Peat and fine sediment soils had higher preparation costs than coarse sediment soils, (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.