Suchergebnisse

We present a comprehensive conceptual framework for novel food value chains linking agricultural landscapes (grazing agroecosystems) with consumers and citizens through the ecosystem service concept. The framework integrates three main components that can be affected by markets, policies and other general drivers. The first component is the grazing agroecosystem that provides a wide variety of ecosystem services to society and farmers in particular (e.g. forage). These ecosystem services can be quantified in biophysical terms, but also from a socio-cultural and economic perspective. The second component is the farm that benefits from certain provisioning and non-provisioning (regulating, supporting and cultural) services while at the same time affects the agroecosystem with particular agricultural practices. The farm provides specific quality products that could be linked to the particular landscape or agroecosystem where is located. The third component is the consumer, including diverse quality perceptions and demands for food products, and the societal demands for public goods (non-provisioning ecosystems services) delivered by multifunctional agriculture (e.g. cultural landscape), including "ethical" concerns about the model of agriculture and the food chain. There are driving forces that influence the three components and the interrelations among them. On the one hand, decision makers are responsible for establishing the legal framework and policies in terms of nature protection, agro-environmental schemes for land management, and market, food quality and safety regulations. On the other hand, more general drivers such as climate, markets of inputs and outputs, or consumer's lifestyles and trends, can also affect the agroecosystems, the farms and the consumer demands. We operationalize the framework with empirical data of sheep farming systems in Mediterranean Spain ; On présente un cadre conceptuel pour de nouveaux chaines de valeur mentant en relation le paysage agricole (écosystème agro-pastoral) avec les consommateurs et la société a travers du concept service ecosystémique. Le cadre proposé comprend trois principaux éléments qui sont influencés par les marchés, les politiques et des autres facteurs clés. Le premier élément est l'écosystème agro-pastoral qui fournit une grande variété de services écosystémiques à la société et aux éleveurs, en particulier (par exemple fourrage). Ces services écosystémiques peuvent être quantifiés sous le point de vue biophysique, mais aussi sous une perspective socio-culturelle et économique. Le deuxième élément est l'exploitation agricole qui se bénéficie de certains services d'approvisionnement et de non-approvisionnement (de régulation, culturels et de soutien) et les agro-ecosystèmes sont à leur tour affectés par les exploitations, notamment, avec les pratiques agricoles. L'exploitation fournit des produits de qualité spécifique que peuvent être liées au paysage où elle est située. Le troisième élément est le consommateur, en considérant la diversité de la qualité perçue et des demandes par rapport à la production d'aliments, et les demandes de la société pour les biens publics fournis par l'agriculture multifonctionnelle (par exemple, le paysage culturel) et leur souci sur le modèle d'agriculture et des filières. Il y a forces moteurs qui ont des effets sur les trois éléments et leurs interrelations. D'une côte, les décideurs sont responsables de l'établissement du cadre légal et des politiques pour protéger la nature, des mesures agri-environnement pour gérer la terre, et les marchés et des régulations sur la qualité et sécurité des aliments. D'une autre côte, le climat, les changements dans les modes de vie et tendances des consommateurs peuvent, aussi influer sur les agroécosystèmes, les exploitations et les demandes des consommateurs. Cette approche est mise en oeuvre avec de données empiriques sur des systèmes ovines méditerranéennes (Espagne). ; Published

Mountain regions are characterized by complex interrelations between human and natural systems. Political and socioeconomic drivers at various scales affect mountain farming systems functioning, resulting in farm structural changes (management, structure and economic performance). Longitudinal studies help fully understand the dynamics of these systems, identify their main drivers of change, and prepare for foreseeable future events. This study aimed to (i) analyse the main changes of cattle farming systems in the Pyrenees from 1990 to 2018, (ii) identify the different trajectories of farm evolution and (iii) to determine the key drivers of those trajectories at global, regional and household levels. We monitored 50 cattle farms in three valleys with different socioeconomic contexts, which were surveyed in 1990, 2004 and 2018. We observed clear changes regarding land and labour production factors. Over the 1990–2004 period, farming systems experienced a land use extensification (one-month increase of grazing season) and capital intensification (55% increase of livestock units (LU) per work unit (WU)) processes, coinciding with a switch from dairy to beef farming with on-farm fattening. Over the 2004–2018 period, land use stabilised but the capital intensification process went on (17% increase of LU/WU) while farms reduced their inputs (43% decrease of feeding costs per LU), in parallel to the decreasing importance of fattening. These changes allowed to globally maintain stable farm economic margins (around 40,000 €/WU). Multivariate statistical analyses enabled to identify four trajectories of evolution, three of them specific to each valley under study and a common across-valleys trajectory. These trajectories resulted from the interaction between global and regional drivers and household particularities. The CAP played a major role at the global level (representing an average of 70% of farm gross margin in 2004 and 2018), while tourism development and household characteristics were the main drivers at the regional level. Several farms responded by maximising their output related to the most limiting production factor (i.e. agriculture land or labour) in each valley. However, the across-valleys trajectory, which comprised 44% of farms, showed limited changes during the studied period. The ability of farms to maintain their adaptation capacity while keeping economic and social viability will determine the future of cattle farming in the region. Our findings highlight the need of reorienting agricultural policies towards promoting new entrants into mountain farming, better integrating CAP instruments with other EU sectorial policies and improving farm monitoring by disaggregating follow-up processes by agroecosystem and management regimes. ; Published

El futuro de la agricultura, y en particular de la producción animal, es objeto de un intenso debate público y científico que gira alrededor de la sostenibilidad de los sistemas de producción. La sostenibilidad implica la capacidad de autorreproducción de los elementos esenciales —económicos, ambientales y sociales— de una determinada explotación o sector productivo, teniendo en cuenta las relaciones con el entorno socio-económico, cultural, político, de mercado, etc., que es crecientemente determinante y está sometido a cambios constantes y frecuentemente imprevisibles. En este trabajo se presentan dos ejemplos ilustrativos de metodologías aplicadas al análisis sistémico en ganadería de rumiantes en el norte de España. En el primer caso, se aplica el marco de evaluación MESMIS de sostenibilidad y manejo de recursos en sistemas ovinos con diverso grado de intensificación y orientación productiva. Se describe someramente el proceso de recogida de información, elección de puntos críticos e indicadores y valoración de atributos de sostenibilidad en las áreas ambiental, social y económica. En el segundo caso, se describe brevemente el programa de simulación dinámica NODRIZA para rebaños de vacuno de carne y se presentan resultados de evaluación de alternativas de manejo de rebaño y recursos de pastoreo en condiciones de montaña desde diversas perspectivas: técnica, económica, mano de obra y uso de la tierra. ; The future of agriculture and animal production in particular has become a fundamental issue of public and scientific debate. Sustainability of farming systems is placed in the centre of this debate. Sustainability implies the capacity of self-reproduction of any essential component –economic, environmental and social- of a farm, region or industry in relation of its socio-economic, cultural, political, and market environment. This environment is increasingly influential and changes occur frequently and often are unpredictable. In this paper we present two examples illustrating methodologies applied to the systemic analysis of ruminant farming systems in the north of Spain. In the first example, we use the MESM IS framework to assess the sustainability of a number of sheep farms with different degree of intensification and productive orientation. We briefly describe the data collection, the identification of critical points and indicators, and the assessment of sustainability attributes in environmental, social and economic dimensions. In the second example, we present the software NODR IZA for simulation of beef cattle herds and its application to the evaluation of longterm performance of mountain farms under diverse feeding, reproductive and land use management strategies. Trade-offs between production, economics, land use and labour are briefly discussed ; análisis de sistemas ; MESMIS ; programa NODRIZA ; ovino ; vacuno de carne ; España ; systems analysis ; NODRIZA software ; sheep ; beef cattle ; Spain ; Published