Potential strategies of adaptation of mixed sheep-crop systems to changes in the economic environment in a Mediterranean mountain area

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In the Mediterranean regions, sheep farming systems are mostly located in less favoured areas and play a multifunctional role. Nevertheless, those systems have experienced a strong decline in the last decades, which has led to the abandonment of pasturelands and other socio-economic changes in some areas. Traditionally, sheep farming systems are associated to cereal crops and remain common in Mediterranean areas. The objectives of this study were (i) to evaluate the possible adaptation strategies for sheep-crop mixed systems in the Sierra and Cañones de Guara Natural Park (SCGNP) to changes in the agricultural policy measures and the labour market, and (ii) to approximate the value of grazing as an environmental function provided by these systems. Four types of mixed sheep-crop systems (MSCS) in SCGNP were established in a previous typology (Bernués et al., 2004. Cahiers Options Méditerranéennes 62, 195–198). In 2007–2008, a survey was carried out 46 farms (95% of sheep farms that used the Natural Park). From that information, four farms were selected, one for each type of MSCS to be modeled. Mixed linear programming models were developed. Five socio-economic scenarios were simulated depending on CAP conditions, availability of labour (farmer pluriactivity), and prioritization of grazing. Under the scenario of total decoupling of the CAP subsidies, the best Gross Margin was obtained by the mixed farm with large flock and oriented to cereal cultivation (MSCS3) and the mixed farm with a large flock (MSCS2), but labour productivity was highest in the most cereal-oriented mixed systems. Off-farm work was economically profitable in the majority of the MSCS, which may lead to a decrease in the livestock farming activity and changes in land use with a reduction in the area leased for grazing, and in the area used for the cultivation of lucerne and sainfoin. Under current conditions (total decoupling of subsidies, high cereal prices), the total production of barley was sold, i.e., not fed to livestock. In contrast, in the scenarios of no subsidies, maximization of the use of pastures, or reduction of barley price, the farmhouse barley consumption for feeding livestock increased. The most livestock oriented farm (MSCS2) was the type of mixed farming system that should receive the least economic compensation for grazing as an environmental function provided by this farm and the most cereal-oriented systems required the most compensation. Nevertheless, the MSCS studied were highly diverse in the distribution of land use and trade-offs exist among the environmental functions performed by them.