Livestock Systems in Rural Development in Disadvantaged Areas Radical changes are taking place across Europe in the nature of support structures for agriculture and rural development. The recent Cork conference established the philosophy, at an EU level, of “integrated rural development”, that may become the model for future reform of support structures, i.e. that policy structures aiming to stimulate the rural economy must recognise that agriculture plays only a part, albeit a major one in a far wider range of economic activities. This shift in emphasis, towards policies that regard environmental sustainability to be a fundamental necessity, is likely to have far-reaching effects on agricultural systems, particularly in the agriculturally less-favoured areas. These disadvantaged regions - the mountains, moorlands, wetlands and heaths and the rough pastures found in each of these landscapes - represent some 30 % of the farmed area of Europe. Livestock rearing is commonly the major agricultural sector in these areas, and it is being increasingly recognised that traditional husbandry methods have played an essential role in creating and maintaining the characteristic habitats and landscapes, that are, on the one hand, so valued by all countryside users, and on the other, so threatened by intensive agriculture practices. Future systems must be compatible with positive environmental management, as well as returning an adequate income to farmers, a demand that is leading to an increasing number of farmers engaging in some form of processing or speciality marketing to add value to their products, possibly in co-operation with other local businesses, such as restaurants and delicatessens. This drive to integration of rural development initiatives opens up new challenges for research. There is increasing need for collaborative, interdisciplinary work which will draw together existing knowledge and new technologies. The LSIRD network was established last year to bring together leading European researchers to share ideas, and develop new co-ordinated research programmes to address these issues. This conference is the first in Europe that will include experts in production systems, policy and economic research, and environmental management. The conference will point to new opportunities for synergy between the disciplines, and form a conceptual basis for the future development of the LSIRD network. Livestock systems in European rural development CHAPTER1 : Constraints on livestock systems in European disadvantaged areas 1 Identifying biological constraints acting on livestock systems in marginal areas Iain Wright, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Scotland....................................................................... 3 2 Economic constraints on the development of animal production systems in disadvantaged areas. Kostas Apostolopoulos, Charokopion University of Athens & George Mergos, University of Athens, Greece11 3 Marginalisation of agricultural land in Europe Floor Brouwer, David Baldock, Frans Godeschalk, Guy Beaufoy, Agricultural Economics Research Institute, The Hague, Holland....................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 2: Adding value to the products of livestock systems 4 Direct marketing of livestock products Ralf Bokermann & Bernd Wirthgen, University of Kassel, Germany ............................................................ 32 5 On-farm processing of the products of livestock systems Brian Revell, Scottish Agricultural College, Scotland & Martine François, Groupe de Recherche et d'Echanges Technologiques (GRET), France ........................... 44 6 Contribution of rural tourism to market livestock products in LFAs Gerold Rahmann, Dept. of International Animal Husbandry, Witzenhausen, Germany................................. 59 CHAPTER 3 CASE STUDY - Quality textile fibres 7 Animal fibres - Adding value through producer co-operation Scott Andrews, Royal Agricultural College, UK........................................................................................... 69 8 Location of optimal areas for the development of an alternative livestock species, the cashmere goat Kate Corcoran, Institute of Ecology and Resource Management, Edinburgh .............................................. 75 CHAPTER 4:The role of livestock systems in the management of the environment 9 The role of livestock in habitat management John Milne, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, UK & Koldo Osoro, Instituto de Experimentación y Promoción Agraria, Spain ..................................................... 82 10 Extensive pasture systems in Germany- realising the value of environmental sustainability Rainer Luick, Institute of Landscape Ecology, Baden-Wurtembürg, Germany ............................................. 85 CHAPTER 5: Policy structures, livestock farming, and rural development 11 Support to livestock production in the least-favoured areas under the CAP Eduardo Diez-Patier, Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, Spain ............................................ 97 12 Beef farming in the UK LFA - farmer response to the 1992 CAP reform measures and the implications for meeting world trade obligations. Alastair Rutherford, & Michael Winter, Countryside Commission, UK ...................................................... 102 CHAPTER 6: Options for policy reform 13 Necessity for integration of agricultural, regional and environmental policy for disadvantaged rural areas Siegfried Bauer, University of Giessen, Germany....................................................................................... 115 14 Developing a conceptual framework for agricultural and environmental policy adapted to Mediterranean areas - some proposals derived from case studies. François de Casabianca, Reseau de Recherche sur les Dynamiques Mediterranéennes, Corsica, France .. 132 List of participants ..................................................................................................................................... 133 2 Identifying biological constraints acting on livestock systems in marginal areas I A Wright Summary There is a huge diversity of livestock systems in marginal areas, producing milk, meat, wool and hides from a large number of breeds of cattle, sheep and goats. Those systems all, however, rely to a large extent on pasture resources to supply most of the feed. Because of the seasonality of pasture growth in marginal areas both the quantity and quality of herbage available can limit the level of nutrition to livestock. In northern Europe pasture production ceases in winter due to low temperatures, while in southern Europe high temperature and lack of rainfall limit pasture growth in summer. Variability of rainfall between years is also a major problem in Mediterranean areas. In many marginal areas soil conditions are such as to limit the supply of nutrients to plants. In winter in northern Europe and in summer in southern Europe the nutritive value of herbage available ( in terms of energy and protein) is generally very low and often insufficient to provide animals with even maintenance levels of intake. Often animals have to browse shrubs, which tend to have a low digestibility and a low protein content. In addition many contain secondary plant compounds such as tannins which impair digestion. The low levels of nutrition generally limit the physiological processes of reproduction, lactation and growth, well below the potential achievable by the animals. Management systems have developed which try to overcome some of these difficulties. For example, the annual reproductive cycle in breeding animals is usually manipulated to ensure the time of maximum feed requirements coincides with maximum pasture production, and supplementary feeding can be provided to increase the level of nutrition. Nevertheless the levels of animal performance and total output from livestock systems in the marginal areas of Europe fall considerably below that of comparable systems in more favoured areas. Introduction There is no strict definition of marginal areas. However for the purposes of this paper it is assumed that as far as the EU is concerned, marginal areas equate roughly with those areas which have been classified as 'less favoured' by the European Commission in the Less Favoured Areas Directive (EEC, 1975). Briefly, the less favoured areas are those where there are limited possible land uses because of altitude, short growing season, steep slopes, infertile soils and low productivity. These areas are mainly suitable for livestock farming and farming is necessary to protect the countryside. The extent of Less Favoured areas in the twelve EC countries in 1992 is shown in Figure 1. 3 In the marginal areas there is a huge diversity of livestock systems producing milk, meat, wool and hides from a staggering number of breeds of cattle, sheep and goats. There are however several key features which many of the systems have in common which can be summarised as follows: 1. Most systems depend on pasture resources to supply the majority of feed resources. 2. Pasture production is seasonal. 3. Both the quantity and quality of herbage can limit the nutrient intake of animals. This paper identifies the main constraints on animal performance and output from livestock systems in marginal areas. It considers the factors which constrain pasture production and quality, how the performance of animals can be limited by nutrition and how some of the limitations