sustainability Article Can Livestock Farming and Tourism Coexist in Mountain Regions? A New Business Model for Sustainability Dino Genovese 1, Francesca Culasso 2,*, Elisa Giacosa 2 and Luca Maria Battaglini 1 1 Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Turin, Grugliasco 10095, Italy;
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[email protected] (L.M.B.) 2 Department of Management, University of Turin, Turin 10134, Italy;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +39-011-6706014 Received: 30 September 2017; Accepted: 31 October 2017; Published: 3 November 2017 Abstract: European Mediterranean mountain regions have been characterized by a sort of competition between the tourism sector and the agro-silvo-pastoral system, which in recent years has contributed to generate a continuous decline of the second one. Nevertheless, Pasture-based Livestock Farming Systems (PLSFS) are relevant for their role in the management and conservation of large High Nature Value (HNV) farmlands in Europe. The goal of our research is therefore to analyze what are the main features of farming organizations in the Italian alpine mountains and how they may be combined into inovative and sustainable business models (BM), characterized by the coexistence of agro-silvo-pastoral and touristic activities. By drawing upon the BM definition suggested by the Bocken’s et al. (2014), an exploratory case study has been analyzed; in particular, we propose the case study of the Lanzo Valleys, an alpine mountain region in the northwest of Italy, and the Toma di Lanzo Producers Association. The way a concrete and sustainable innovation in the more traditional BM could be supported only by the proactive intervention of a supra-farm dimension, while maintaining the peculiarities of the individual farms, is clearly shown in the article.