Evaluating socio-economic and environmental sustainability of the sheep farming activity in Greece: a whole-farm mathematical programming approach

Ruminant livestock farming is an important agricultural activity, mainly located in less favoured areas. Furthermore, ruminants have been identi fi ed as a signi fi cant source of GHG emissions. In this study, a whole-farm optimization model is used to assess the socio-economic and environmental performance of the dairy sheep farming activity in Greece. The analysis is undertaken in two sheep farms that represent the extensive and the semi-intensive farming systems. Gross margin and labour are regarded as socio-economic indicators and GHG emissions as environmental indicators. The issue of the marginal abatement cost is also addressed. The results indicate that the semi-intensive system yields a higher gross margin/ewe (179 €) than the extensive system (117 €) and requires less labour. The extensive system causes higher emissions/kg of milk than the semi-intensive system (5.45 and 2.99 kg of CO2 equivalents, respectively). In both production systems, abatement is achieved primarily via reduction of the fl ock size and switch to cash crops. However, the marginal abatement cost is much higher in the case of the semi-intensive farms, due to their high productivity

Understanding the roles of forests and tree-based systems in food provision

Forests and other tree-based systems such as agroforestry contribute to food and nutritional security in myriad ways. Directly, trees provide a variety of healthy foods including fruits, leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds and edible oils that can diversify diets and address seasonal food and nutritional gaps. Forests are also sources of a wider range of edible plants and fungi, as well as bushmeat, fish and insects. Treebased systems also support the provision of fodder for meat and dairy animals, of “green fertiliser” to support crop production and of woodfuel, crucial in many communities for cooking food. Indirectly, forests and tree-based systems are a source of income to support communities to purchase foods and they also provide environmental services that support crop production. There are, however, complexities in quantifying the relative benefits and costs of tree-based systems in food provision. These complexities mean that the roles of tree-based systems are often not well understood. A greater understanding focuses on systematic methods for characterising effects across different landscapes and on key indicators, such as dietary diversity measures. This chapter provides a number of case studies to highlight the relevance of forests and tree-based systems for food security and nutrition, and indicates where there is a need to further quantify the roles of these systems, allowing proper integration of their contribution into national and international developmental policies

Climate change adaptation in agriculture: practices and technologies. Messages to the SBSTA 44 agriculture workshops

In 2014 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), as part of its mandate to consider issues related to agriculture, decided to invite submissions from parties and observers, covering four topics, in 2015 and 2016. Of the two topics for consideration in 2016, one relates to ‘identification and assessment of agricultural practices and technologies to enhance productivity in a sustainable manner, food security and resilience, considering the differences in agro-ecological zones and farming systems, such as different grassland and cropland practices and systems’. In this info note we provide a brief overview of key practices and technologies. A twinned info note considers higher-level measures of adaptation in agriculture, such as policies and institutions