Mountain sheep grazing systems provide multiple ecological, socio-economic, and food quality benefits
| Autor: | Eneko Garmendia, Arantza Aldezabal, Elena Galan, Aitor Andonegi, Agustín del Prado, Gonzalo Gamboa, Oihana Garcia, Guillermo Pardo, Noelia Aldai, Luis Javier R. Barron |
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| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
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| Zdroj: | Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Popis: | Pastoral systems face increasing pressure from competing global markets, food sector industrialization, and new policies such as Europe’s post-2020 Common Agriculture Policy. This pressure threatens the use of extensive sheep-grazing systems in mountain areas of low productivity but high natural value. Using information gathered at a long-term research setting in a mountainous area of the Basque Country (northern Spain), we assessed the multiple benefits of extensive dairy sheep grazing systems from multiple perspectives using indicators pertaining to ecological, socio-economic, and food quality domains. In this way, we address the benefits that would be lost if sheep grazing abandonment persists in mountain regions. Our results show that the benefits of extensive dairy sheep grazing in the research area include the production of healthy and high-quality foods and multiple ecological benefits including biodiversity conservation. Extensive dairy sheep grazing also contributes to rural development by generating employment and income in marginal, low-productivity lands that can support few economic alternatives. In particular, we found that sheep farmers who produce high-value products, such as cheese, have enhanced their economic profitability and are less dependent on public subsidies. However, careful attention to sustainable practices, support for new generations of farmers, and streamlined supply chains are required. These would contribute to ensure socio-economic benefits for farmers, avoid the ecological costs associated with grazing abandonment, and enhance ecosystem services for the whole society. © 2022, The Author(s). Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. Financial support was provided from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (AGL2013-48361-C2-1-R), Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-113395RB-C21), and Basque Government to E.G (IT1022-16), A.A (IT1365-19), and L.J.R.B. (IT944-16). E.G, A.P, and G.P research was supported by María de Maeztu excellence accreditation 2018–2022 (Ref. MDM-2017-0714), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/, and by the Basque Government through the BERC 2018-2021 program. N.A. and A.P were also financed by the program Ramon & Cajal from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (RYC-2011-08593; RYC-2017-22143). |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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