Beef Cattle Farms’ Conversion to the Organic System. Recommendations for Success in the Face of Future Changes in a Global Context

Abstract: Dehesa is a remarkable agroforestry system, which needs the implementation of sustainable production systems in order to reduce its deterioration. Moreover, its livestock farms need to adapt to a new global market context. As a response, the organic livestock sector has expanded not only globally but also in the region in search for increased overall sustainability. However, conversions to the organic system have been commonly carried out without analyzing farms’ feasibility to do so. This analysis is necessary before implementing any new production system in order to reduce both the diversity of externalities that the variety of contexts leads to and the vulnerability of the Dehesa ecosystem to small management changes. Within this context and in the face of this gap in knowledge, the present paper analyzes the ease of such conversions and the farms’ chances of success after conversion in the face of global changes (market and politics). Different aspects (“areas of action”) were studied and integrated within the Global Conversion Index (GCI), and the legal requirement for European organic farming, organic principles, future challenges for ruminants’ production systems, as well as the lines of action for the post-2013 CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) and their impacts on the beef cattle sector were taken into account. Results revealed that farms must introduce significant changes before initiating the conversion process, since they had very low scores on the GCI (42.74%), especially with regard to health and agro-ecosystem management (principle of Ecology). Regarding rearing and animal welfare (principle of justice/fairness), farms were close to the organic system. From the social point of view, active participation in manufacturing and marketing of products should be increased

Organic Livestock Farming: Challenges, Perspectives, And Strategies To Increase Its Contribution To The Agrifood System’s Sustainability – A Review

The livestock sector is of great importance for the sustainability of rural economies and many ecosystems; however, it also has a high environmental impact. Due to the growing demand for animal products, there is a need to design new livestock production systems that allow the combination of food security and sustainability. Within this context, organic livestock may be a useful strategy to achieve such a pivotal goal. However, there is a lack of studies that integrate the existing knowledge, specifically in organic livestock, and integrating the main aspects implied in its practice (its externalities and challenges). The present work aims to fill this knowledge gap, providing strategies and insights that will help stakeholders and policy makers to improve the sustainability of both the organic sector itself and that of the whole food system

Sustainability of organic and conventional beef cattle farms in SW Spanish rangelands (‘dehesas’): a comparative study

Organic production in Spain has increased substantially in recent years due to several factors, such as the growing interest of the European Union towards preserving sensitive ecosystems; the potential role of organic production in the socio-economic development of rural areas and the growing consumers' demand for safer and higher quality foods. Within this framework, this paper analyzes the beef sector of SW Spanish rangelands (dehesas). These are traditional systems characteristic of the Iberian Peninsula where native herbaceous vegetation and evergreen species of Quercus provide the basis for extensive beef farms. Alt-hough traditional management in dehesa farms is of vital importance for the sustainability of this particular ecosystem, in the last years many farms have turned to organic production, trying to take advantage both of new subsidies and of new market trends.With this study, we try to evalu-ate the sustainability of conventional and organic beef production systems in dehesas in Extre-madura (SW Spain), trying to determine the level these systems are contributing both to the preservation of this sensitive ecosystem and to the socioeconomic development of the region. To this end, we apply a methodological adaptation of the MESMIS methodology to 90 dehesa beef farms located in Extremadura (SW Spain). MESMIS is based on the evaluation of basic attributes of sustainability that allow one to make a simultaneous and comparative analysis of different types of farms. It has been found that organic farms are the most sustainable, obtaining higher scores than con-ventional farms in stability and self-reliance, and similar scores in productivity, adaptability, and equity. Organic dehesa beef farms show little dependence on external products and services and are more adapted to their environment (lower stocking rates for an optimal use of the system's feedstuff production), those being the clues for their enhanced sustainability

Evaluación de la sostenibilidad de explotaciones caprinas extremeñas en áreas desfavorecidas como herramienta de apoyo en la conversión hacia explotaciones ecológicas.

INTRODUCTION: The Ibores-Villuercas region (located in SW Spain) is known for its dairy goat farms producing cheeses of high quality (P.D.O. Queso Ibores). The present study characterizes such farms and assess their sustainability, as a tool to determine which farms present more feasibility to carry out a conversion to the organic system. This conversion could be used as a marketing tool for these farms, and contribute to local development (both economically and socially), ensuring the maintenance of the farms and rural population while enabling the preservation of valuable landscapes. METHODOLOGY: farms where classified using cluster analysis. Later, a sustainability assessment of the clusters (groups of farms) was carried out. Finally, farms' difficulties and advantages producing under the organic model where predicted. RESULTS and DISCUSSION: 3 groups of farms were obtained. Group 1 farms were intensive ones, using highly-productive dairy breeds fed high proportion of concentrates. Group 2 were semi-extensive of higher surface and mixed with sheeps, where autochthonous and allochthonous races are reared, and management is closer to a traditional one. Finally, group 3 was a traditional one, closer to the orgnaic management, with low stocking rates and native breeds feeding local feed resources. Regarding the attributes of sustainability, group 3 showed advantages in terms of self-management, which is important under the organic system and areas of scarcity of feed resources (such as that studied)

Conversión de sistemas de producción caprinos de áreas desfavorecidas a ganadería ecológica

INTRODUCTION: The Spanish goat sector's crisis has led to the abandonment of a large number of farms. At present, sector's expectations are reduced, which threatens farms' permanence. This in turn means a loss of agricultural biodiversity, reduced economic activity and loss of rural population. In this context, it is necessary to implement strategies to ensure farms' continuity . In this sense, the conversion to the organic model is proposed in the farms analyzed. METHODOLOGY: To study the possibility and feasibility of such conversion an analysis of their structure (technical and economic characteristics), an assessment of farms' sustainability (based on social, economic and environmental parameters) has been carried out. For this purpose, the MESMIS Framework was used

Cattle production in agroforestry systems. An analysis on the role of intensification and dependence of subsidies

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Sostenibilidad ambiental de explotaciones ganaderas ecológicas y convencionales en agro-ecosistemas mediterráneos de alto valor ecológico: un estudio comparado basado en indicadores agroambientales. Environmental sustainability of organic and conventional livestock farms in a Mediterranean ecosystem of high ecological value: a comparative study based on agri-environmental indicators

This paper analyzes the beef cattle sector located in the dehesa agro-ecosystem (SW Spain). The objective is to detect the more sustainable systems based on the environmental dimension of sustainability comparing three production models. RESULTS: organic farms contribute to environmental stability to a greater extent than conventional ones due to the implementation of certain farming practices. Organic farms (mainly the 'Organic 2' group of farms) do not use pesticides nor chemical fertilizers and present greater integration of livestock species, crops and trees, which has positive environmental and economic effects. This integration allows better use of food resources and conservation of the heterogeneity of landscapes, conserving natural resources and promoting ecosystem services. Coupled with this, the reduced preventive use of parasiticides and antibiotics increases the resilience of livestock and reduce environmental pollution and antibiotic resistance. In this sense, organic farms (both 'Organic1' and 'Organic 2') showed the highest scores for sustainability. No significant differences were observed in manure management. This aspect was due to the extensification of dehesa farms, which prevents the accumulation of manure in a given area. Then grazing lead to improving soil quality and reduces nutrient leaching. Regarding soil and crops management, any group of farms showed to carry out more environmentally agricultural practices (i.e. conservative agriculture, etc.). This could be due to poor training and awareness of managers with regard to this technical area, as well as an importance lack of association between crops and livestock. It has been observed that Organic 2 farms had higher scores than those belonging to both the Conventional and the Organic 1 groups. This reason was the higher proportion of wooded area in Organic 2 farms. Finally, Organic 2 farms had the best scores with regard to both the use of autochthonous breeds and the integration of different livestock species

Environmental, economic and social indicators of rural development in agroforestry areas

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Fitoterapia en ganadería

Introduction about the application of phytotherapy in organic livestock farming. An educational preliminary approach

The exclusive B_s -> phi mu+ mu- process in a constituent quark model

We consider the exclusive B_s -> phi mu+ mu- process in the standard model using a constituent quark loop model approach together with a simple parameterization of the quark dynamics. The model allows to compute the decay form factors and therefore can give predictions for the decay rates, the invariant mass spectra and the asymmetries. This process is suppressed in the standard model but can be enhanced if new physics beyond the standard model is present, such as flavor-violating supersymmetric models. It constitutes therefore an interesting precision test of the standard model at forthcoming experiments.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables, LaTeX; minor changes to the introduction, table III and figure 3. Few references adde