In the second half of the eighteenth century, transhumance gradually entered a period of decline. Wool production, which for centuries had been the driving force behind all activities connected to transhumance, became increasingly less profitable due to imports from new foreign markets. At the same time, demographic growth within the Kingdom significantly increased the demand for agricultural products needed to feed the population. In practice, a historical conjuncture emerged in which, for the first time, farmers were able to make their voices heard more forcefully than livestock breeders.

Pressure thus began to mount on the Crown to dismantle part of the land designated for pasture and convert it to agriculture. Even within the jurisdiction of the Doganella d’Abruzzo, albeit in a different context, landowners increasingly demanded the abolition of the regime of the stucchi, in order to regain full possession of their estates.

During this phase, the Bourbons adopted a cautious stance. While they were aware of the economic potential associated with a change of regime, they feared the consequences of undermining rights that had been established over centuries and, above all, there was no certainty that the new arrangement would generate higher fiscal revenues than those guaranteed by the traditional system.

In this climate of uncertainty, the Crown opted for experimental solutions. In 1788, it was decided to grant the poste of the Tavoliere on lease for a period of six years, simultaneously abolishing the payment of the fida. In this way, a secure income was guaranteed to the royal treasury—moreover higher than that obtained through the fida—and a solution was tested that bore some similarities to censuazione, an institution through which state lands were granted to private individuals in return for an annual payment (censo), typically permanent in character and redeemable, though formally remaining state property. Since the locati would make use of the same plots for several consecutive years, it was hoped that they would avoid damaging them and would instead invest in new infrastructure.

In 1789, it was further established that certain poste in Lesina and Castiglione were to be effectively granted under censo redimibile to the locati who had habitually used them. In the same municipalities, other lands were instead granted on thirty-year leases. These were considered the poorest poste of the Tavoliere, and the hope was that the censuari, perceiving the land as their own, would undertake improvements. Even in this case, the annual rent established under the censuazione was higher than the previously paid fida. In exchange, the censuari could use the land according to their needs, with the sole obligation of raising the same number of animals previously grazed on those lands.

Once in possession of the land, both censuari and leaseholders undertook improvements to justify their expenses, establishing plantations and constructing buildings. Within a short time, about two-thirds of the granted poste were converted to arable cultivation.

The experiment, however, did not yield the hoped-for results. The land of the poste was not particularly fertile, and intensive exploitation further impoverished it, leading to increasingly modest agricultural yields. Many concessionaires eventually reversed course, reconverting the land once again to pasture.

The limited success of the initiative did not deter the locati, who continued to insist that the entire Tavoliere be granted to them either under censuazione or lease. The Crown ordered several investigations to determine which solution was most acceptable to breeders, while realizing that the system of the fida had become unsustainable, as the costs of collection were no longer offset by customs revenues. The final decision favored the party advocating censuazione, but another issue prevented its immediate implementation: on the one hand, the locati demanded that the entire Tavoliere remain devoted to pasture; on the other, the massari pressed for widespread cultivation. A stalemate thus emerged, from which no immediate solution could be found.

It was in this context that, in 1806, Joseph Bonaparte arrived in Naples and deposed the Bourbons. Once in power, he immediately faced the need to secure financial resources and found already prepared on his desk the preliminary procedure for a new management of the Tavoliere. With the law of 23 May 1806, the Dogana di Foggia was formally abolished.