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Dear Colleagues,

The sustainability of livestock farming systems (LFS), in relation to global concern about climate change, human growth and demand of livestock products, the quality, synergies, and trade-offs of the services that agro-ecosystems managed for livestock provide to society, has become a fundamental issue for the public and scientific debate.

This Special Issue, therefore, addresses studies that advance frameworks, concepts, and applications related to the sustainability of livestock farming systems with a particular focus (but not only) on organic systems. In specific we encourage the submission of papers on the following specific topics: i) relationships between livestock farming systems and agroecosystems; ii) value chains able to improve the global sustainability of livestock farming systems; iii) ecosystem services and sustainability assessment of livestock farming systems. We particularly welcome papers based on multidisciplinary approaches and studies aiming to identify FAIR indicators for the definition of policies and strategies to improve the sustainability of livestock farming systems.

Prof. Dr. Enrico Sturaro
Prof. Dr. Stefano Bovolenta
Guest Editors

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Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Livestock farming systems
Agroecology
Environmental footprint
Ecosystem services
Organic production

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 4243 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Added Value of Local Sheep Breeds in Alpine Agroecosystems

by Marta Teston, Matteo Orsi, Giovanni Bittante, Alessio Cecchinato, Luigi Gallo, Paola Gatto, Lucio Flavio Macedo Mota, Maurizio Ramanzin, Salvatore Raniolo, Antonella Tormen and Enrico Sturaro

Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4698; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14084698 - 14 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2165

Abstract

This study is part of a project (Sheep Al.L. Chain, RDP Veneto Region) aiming to improve the competitiveness of local sheep breed farms through valorization of their links with mountain agroecosystems. We considered two local sheep breeds of the eastern Italian Alps, “Alpagota” and “Lamon”, which have a population of 400 and 3000 heads, respectively, and are used to produce lambs for typical products. A total of 35 farms (17 for Alpagota, with a total of 1652 heads; 18 for Lamon, with a total of 337 heads) were surveyed to collect data on farm organization, flock structure and management (farm questionnaire), land use management (GIS approach), and value chain organization (participatory processes). The link between the two local sheep breeds and mountain agroecosystems is very strong: land use is characterized by a large number of small patches of grasslands in marginal areas. Moving from the results of this study, a set of strategies aiming at improving the competitiveness of these systems have been proposed. Communication to the consumers and to the relevant stakeholders of the added value of local sheep breeds in marginal mountain agroecosystems can contribute to favor the resilience of small ruminant farms and the conservation of Alpine sheep breeds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Organic Livestock Farming System)

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19 pages, 2177 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Relationships between Organic Beef Production and Agro-Ecosystems in Mountain Areas: The Case of Catalan Pyrenees

by Marta Teston, Daniel Villalba, Marco Berton, Maurizio Ramanzin and Enrico Sturaro

Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 9274; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12219274 - 08 Nov 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2694

Abstract

This study analyzed the link between organic beef production and agroecosystems in mountain areas and the potential effects of land use change in eight farms of Catalan Pyrenees with a three step approach: (i) assessment of structural and management features; (ii) comparison of forage productivity and manure loads of 71 farmland parcels in relation with management intensity (natural meadows, seminatural meadows, temporary crops) and, for meadow parcels, with the farmers’ willingness to convert them to temporary crops; (iii) life cycle assessment of the environmental impacts. Each farm managed around 150 ha of pastures and 23 ha of farmland (of which only 5 as temporary crops), and maintained a herd of around 130 livestock units. Forage productivity and manure loads of farmland were modest and extremely variable, and no productive advantages could be predicted from the conversion of meadows to temporary crops. Environmental impacts were mostly related to the on-farm stages, because of low-input management and very high feed self-sufficiency, and the diets used showed very low feed/food competition. These results indicate a balance between organic beef production and management of mountain agroecosystems, which is a key point for sustainability and should be a priority in European policies and strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Organic Livestock Farming System)

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