Mountain sheep grazing systems provide multiple ecological, socio-economic, and food quality benefits

Abstract

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.

Grazing lowers soil multifunctionality but boosts soil microbial network complexity and stability in a subtropical grassland of China

“…70% of the agricultural land ( Abdalla et al, 2018 ; Ding et al, 2021 ). It forms ecologically and economically significant functions, including storing one-third of the terrestrial carbon storage ( Shrestha et al, 2020 ; Bai and Cotrufo, 2022 ), yielding about one-third of terrestrial annual net primary productivity ( Ding et al, 2020 ), supporting livelihoods of 1–2 billion population ( Garmendia et al, 2022 ), and reducing food insecurity ( Shrestha et al, 2020 ). As the most crucial and pervasive anthropogenic disturbance ( Wang B. et al, 2019 ) of grasslands worldwide ( Zhang et al, 2018a ), and grazing is the major land use accounting for over 22% of the planetary’s land cover ( Waters et al, 2019 ), it is essential to reveal the impact of grazing on grassland for improving grassland management and ecological protection.…”

Effects of extreme events on land-use-related decisions of farmers in Eastern Austria: the role of learning

“…We deducted four adaptation strategies organic production , extensification , expansion , and land-use change based on farm management strategies from the 20 interviews in the study region supplemented with additional 40 interviews with farmers in Austria and France. With the shift to organic and extensive production, farms can decrease the pressure on production quantity; additionally, higher prices can increase their gross margins (Resare Sahlin et al 2022 ; Garmendia et al 2022 ). As farms in this application of the SECLAND ABM only consider the agricultural income as satisfaction criteria, they cannot substitute farm income with off-farm work (Brunner and Grêt-Regamey 2016 ).…”

Characteristics of mountain vs. lowland dairy products

“…(2022) showed that sheep milk and cheese from animals grazed in mountains exhibited higher antioxidant activity compared to the products coming from indoor or valley‐grazed animals. The antioxidant activity of dairy products is linked to the lipid‐soluble compounds, the content of the ingested fed in MUFA and PUFA, tocopherol, retinoid and terpenes contributing significantly to the antioxidant properties of the final product (Segato et al ., 2017; Garmendia et al ., 2022). The mineral profile of milk depends on the vegetation stage and the efficiency of soil‐to‐plant transfer (Alothman et al ., 2019).…”