Farms In Greece Research Articles

Phenotypic and Molecular Patterns of Resistance among Campylobacter coli and Campylobacter jejuni Isolates, from Pig Farms.

Simple SummaryCampylobacter spp. has been the leading cause of human diarrhea in EU since 2005. Although poultry and poultry meat are considered as the primary source of transmission of campylobacteriosis to humans, pigs can be a significant reservoir of the pathogen, as well. Moreover, the increase of antibiotic resistance in the specific pathogen, especially against fluroquinolones and macrolides is considered a significant threat for public health. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate and molecularly characterize the antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter infection in pig farms in Greece at both phenotypic and molecular level.The purpose of this research was to characterize the antibiotic resistance patterns of Campylobacter spp. isolated from commercial farrow to finish farms in Greece, and analyze the relevant molecular resistance mechanisms among the resistant Campylobacter isolates. Susceptibility testing to five different classes of antibiotics was performed in 100 C. coli and 100 C. jejuni, previously isolated and identified. All isolates were found susceptible to meropenem. Very high rates of resistance were recorded for tetracyclines (84.5%), medium rates of resistance were recorded regarding quinolones (23%), and low and very low rates of resistance were identified for macrolides such as erythromycin and aminoglycosides (12% and 4%, respectively). Only 12.5% of the Campylobacter isolates displayed MDR. Regarding the molecular mechanisms of resistance, all ciprofloxacin resistant isolates hosted the mutant type Thr-86-Ile region of the quinolone resistance-determining region (QRDR) of the gyrA gene. In all erythromycin resistant isolates, the transitional mutations A2075G and A2074C in the 23S rRNA gene were only amplified. Molecular screening of tetracycline resistance genes indicated that the vast majority of Campylobacter isolates (92.3%) were positive for the tet(O) gene. In summary, these findings and especially the very high and medium rates of resistance for tetracyclines and fluroquinolones, respectively recommend that a continuous monitoring of Campylobacter isolates susceptibility in combination with the proper use of antimicrobials in livestock production is of great importance for public health.

SUBSTITUTION OF SOYBEAN MEAL WITH LOCAL PRODUCED LEGUME FORAGES IN EWES RATIONS

Nutrition of intensive sheep farming in Greece is based mainly on feeding forages and concentrates in the stable, while grazing is provided in a low extend. Feeding cost is the major cost factor and from the protein supplementation side is based on alfalfa hay and soybean meal. The aim of the study was to investigate the substitution of soybean meal with local produced legumes forages. Thirty ewes of the “Karagouniko” breed were split in three groups of ten animals each. In the first group (control group), nutrition was based on alfalfa hay and soybean meal. In the second group, alfalfa hay and soybean meal were entirely substituted with vetch hay. In the third group, alfalfa hay was completely substituted with peas hay and the soybean meal inclusion was increased. Body weight was measured in the beginning and at the end of the trial period. Feed consumption and milk production were recorded daily and milk quality was analyzed weekly. No significant differences were found for all the parameters mentioned. Substitution of imported soybean meal with locally produced legumes is possible and will be an advantage in the differentiation of Greek sheep milk. The economic analysis showed that in farm, the cultivation of vetch and pea hay is more preferable than alfalfa.

Economic and Financial Sustainability Dependency on Subsidies: The Case of Goat Farms in Greece

Goat farming is an important production sector not only for Greece, but also for other Mediterranean countries, as it contributes to the family economy in rural areas. Despite the importance of goat farming, this sector has experienced economic difficulties due to poor management and increased production costs. The aim of our research is to determine goat farm profitability by surveying goat farmers for revenues, variable costs, and fixed costs of their farms. With the use of Principal Component Analysis, all economic factors contributing to overall production costs are examined, as well as their specific impacts on cost formulation. According to our results, goat farms in Greece are not profitable and they cannot survive without government subsidies. Farm economics and agricultural policies could be leveraged to improve community and environmental outcomes in order for farms to be economically and financially sustainable.

A framework for risk analysis of the shellfish aquaculture: The case of the Mediterranean mussel farming in Greece

Mediterranean mussel farming in Greece developed considerably during the last 40 years reaching a gross commodity product up to the limits of the country's production capacity (35–40,000 tonnes/year). Despite the achievements in the sector's growth, little or no effort has been attributed yet to risk assessment and moreover to risk management of the activity. The present effort aims at developing a working framework for the shellfish aquaculture of Greece to be used as a tool by the sector's decision makers to advance strategies for risk elimination or avoidance. The work was based on a generic risk management standard tool, the Joint Australian and New Zealand Risk Management Standard AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 that has been adapted to the specific national characteristics of all levels of the mussel farming business -activities and the industry function. The framework supported by data sets regarding development, production, profits and losses, retrieved by surveys through distributed questionnaires or interviews during site-visits, as well as by collecting data from national and international authorities. Data input covered technology, farm size, farmer risk-attitude, risk-management strategies, risk-perceptions and socioeconomic profiles. Major risks and risk management options were identified providing aid for remediation risk policies to the stakeholders.

171 A cross-sectional study of foot diseases and lesions in intensive dairy sheep farms in Greece

171 A cross-sectional study of foot diseases and lesions in intensive dairy sheep farms in Greece

Impact of Feeding Pattern on the Structure and the Economic Performance of Dairy Cow Sector

In dairy farms, the feeding cost, which includes the expenses for purchased feed but also the expenses for feed production, constitutes a very large part of production cost (more than 60%), which indicates the economic importance of the feeding strategy. This study discerns three different feeding strategies: landless farms only purchasing feed from markets (“Purchasing”), farms for which home-grown feeds stand for more than 10% of feeding costs (“Producing”) and farms with less than 10% home-grown feeds (“Multi-purpose”). Based on technical and economic data from 47 dairy cow farms in Greece, alternative scenarios of development of the dairy sector are determined taking into account the dependence on on-farm feed production. Through a parametric programming model, the study provides insights regarding the optimal structure of the system under different scenarios (changing availability of variable capital, changes in milk prices). The results indicate that “Purchasing” farms are the preferred option when variable capital is abundant and milk prices are satisfactory, while “Producing” are the ones surviving with milk prices significantly lower than the actual ones in Greece and European Union. “Multi-purpose” farms perform worse than the other two and are sidelined in both scenarios, as they do not seem to be able to specialize in the dairy enterprise or in crop production and thus to minimize costs.

Life cycle assessment of seabass and meagre in marine cage farming: From feeding plant to harvesting

Aquaculture is related to environmental impacts locally and globally. The purpose of this study was to identify environmental hotspots in fish feeds of various granulations in seabass and meagre farming, by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), given that recent studies suggested fish feed as the predominant factor affecting environmental impacts in marine fish farming. This, in turn enabled a detailed comparison of the environmental performance throughout the rearing cycle, in both species. LCA was applied on the production process of fish feeds taking into account the amount of raw materials, heat and energy needed for the production of feed. Similarly, LCA was applied in cage farms in Greece, involving the amount of feeds per size class, energy and fuel needed for the production of one tonne of seabass and meagre, respectively. The smaller size feed (SSF) class distributed to the fry, performed better compared to medium (MSF) and large size feed (LSF) classes provided to juveniles/adults, in relation to various environmental impact indicators. In medium and large size feeds, the main negative contributor was the use of sunflower meal, while small size feed affected these indicators through higher electricity demands and the inclusion of higher fishmeal level. The comparison between seabass and meagre revealed that meagre had significantly lower impact in all eighteen environmental impact indicators. This should be attributed to the reduced feed conversion ratio and the lower fry requirements compared to seabass. Improvements in cultivation methods of raw materials, optimized reductions in the inclusion of marine origin raw materials and improved feeding management could contribute to the overall ecological sustainability of the sector.

Correction to: Assessing Environmental Impacts of Sea Bass Cage Farms in Greece and Albania Using Life Cycle Assessment

There was an typo error in the fourth author name.

Costs, income and economic efficiency of dairy sheep flocks

Article Details: Received: 2020-10-12 | Accepted: 2020-11-27 | Available online: 2021-01-31 https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2021.24.mi-prap.98-101 The objective of this study was to analyse costs and incomes from milk/cheese and lamb production in dairy sheep flocks and to evaluate their economic efficiency by calculating the profit/loss that is expressed as the difference between these two economic indicators. Costs were calculated taking into account their individual item structure, revenues were calculated taking into account sales of milk/cheese and lamb production. The analysis included three-year period i.e. years 2017, 2018 and 2019. The object of investigations were twelve and thirteen dairy sheep flocks per year, respectively. Economic indicators were expressed in Eur per feeding day (costs) and/or in Eur per ewe and year (costs, sales, subsidies, profit/loss). Milk and lamb sales did not cover up costs spent on production and accounting for subsidy improved economic efficiency of dairy sheep only to a lower extent. Sheep farming thus produced with the loss. Across years, milk and lamb sales almost unchanged, whereas costs notably increased. No ability to cover up costs with revenues could become an obstacle for further survival of this livestock sector. The increase of both milk yield and lamb production is therefore needed. Keywords: small ruminants, expences, revenues, profit/loss References de Rancourt , M. et al. (2006). Mediterranean sheep and goats production: An uncertain future. Small Ruminant Research , 62, 167–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2005.08.012 Eurostat. (2016). Livestock population in livestock units by type EU-28. Retrieved October, 2, 2020 from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database FAOSTAT. (2019). Food and agricultural data. Retreived October 2, 2020 from http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data Gunlu, A. et al. (2003). Relationship between average milk production costs and some selected technical and socio-economic factors surrounding dairy herds. Indian Journal Animal Sciences , 73(10), 1159–1162. Krupova, Z. et al. (2012). Review of methodologies for costs calculating of ruminants in Slovakia. Jornal of Central European of Agriculture , 13(3), 426–445. https://doi.org/0.5513/JDEA01/13.3.1068 Krupova, Z. et al. (2013). Economics of dairy sheep breeding in the year 2011. Agromagazine , 15(1), 12–13. Krupova, Z. et al. (2014). Impact of variation in production traits, inputs costs and product prices on profitability in multi-purpose sheep. Spanish Jornal of Agricultural Research , 12(4), 902–912. https://doi.org/10.5424/sjar/2014124-6166 Michalickova, M. et al. (2014). Determinants of economic efficiency in dairy cattle and sheep. Slovak Jornal of Animal Science , 47(1), 39–50. Milan, M. J. et al. (2014). Cost structure and profitability of Assaf dairy sheep farms in Spain. Journal of Dairy Science , 97, 5239–5249. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2013-7884 Oravcova, M. and Peskovicova, D. (2008). Genetic nad environmental trends for milk production trends in sheep estimated with test-day model. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Science , 21(8), 1088–1096. https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.2008.70700 Oravcova, M. et al. (2020). Costs in dairy sheep flocks in the year 2019. Agromagazine , 22(10), 10. Pamukova, D. and Momchilov, H. (2017). Analysis of revenues and production costs of dairy sheep farms. Trakia Journal of Sciences , 15(Suppl. 1), 277–281. https://doi.org/10.15547/tjs.2017.s.01.050 Trubacova, A. et al. (2019). Costs of agricultural products in the Slovak Republic in 2018. Bratislava: National Agricultural and Food Centre-RIEAF. Tzouramani, I. et al. (2011). An assessment of of the economic performance of organic dairy sheep farming in Greece. Livestock Science , 141, 136–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2011.05.010

Typology of Management of Transhumant Sheep and Goat Farms in Greece: Proposals for the System Continuity

Transhumant farming system is one of the earliest agricultural activities in Greece having an important role in the conservation of biodiversity, the preservation of rural tradition and cohesion of the rural population. The objective of this study was to construct a transhumant farm typology that could be used as a tool by the decision makers or farmers to improve the management of the farms. The required information was obtained from totally 551 Greek transhumant producers. A Principal Component Analysis gave five components related to the production cost of the farms, the intensity of management, the evolution of the extensive character of the system, the type of herds and the future of the system. Using multivariate techniques, a farm typology was established with four categories. The three categories, were characterized by lower production cost and intensification rate while preserved generally a more extensive character. Among them the first group defined as “evolution of the farming system” bred mainly sheep and producers were significantly more adaptive to some kind of innovations, the second group was constituted mainly by large goat herds while the third one by small sheep herds’. The fourth group, defined as the “intensive one” meaning high production cost, intensification rate and working hours per female as well as limitation of time spent grazing. Besides the definition of the character of the transhumance nowadays the results interestingly, highlighted the future of transhumant farms that tends to be doubtful for a number of farmers originated mainly by the last group.

An Assessment of Snail-Farm Systems Based on Land Use and Farm Components.

Simple SummaryThis study’s goal was a thorough analysis and a detailed characterization of commercial snail farms in Greece, considering the unstructured development of the snail-farming sector over recent years. Additionally, the characterization of snail farms in Greece could help Southern European countries improve heliciculture. This study classifies 29 farms in five snail farming systems: elevated sections (7%), net-covered greenhouse (38%), a mixed system with a net-covered greenhouse (10%), open field (38%), and mixed system with an open field (7%). Results showed the impact of various parameters (farming system, region, equipment, and facilities) on annual production. Snail farms were dispersed in six different regions (Thrace, Central Macedonia, West Macedonia, Thessaly, Western Greece, and the Attica Islands). The location affected productivity, but also influenced the duration of operation during an annual cycle.In this study, the structural and management characteristics of snail farms in Greece were analyzed to maximize sustainable food production. Objectives, such as the classification of farming systems and assessing the effects of various annual production parameters, were investigated. Data were collected (2017) via a questionnaire, and sampling was conducted in 29 snail farms dispersed in six different regions (Thrace, Central Macedonia, West Macedonia, Thessaly, Western Greece, and the Attica Islands). Descriptive statistics for continuous variables and frequencies for categorical variables were calculated. The similarity between farms was analyzed using nonmetric multidimensional scaling (nMDS). The average farm operation duration exceeded eight months and the mean annual production was 1597 kg of fresh, live snails. Results recorded five farming systems: elevated sections (7%), net-covered greenhouse (38%), a mixed system with a net-covered greenhouse (10%), open field (38%), and mixed system with an open field (7%). Snail farms differ in the type of substrate, available facilities, and equipment (60% similarity between most of the open field farms). The geographical location of a farms’ settlement affects productivity but also influences the duration of operation, especially in open field farms, due to their operation under a wide assortment of climatic types.

Incorporating financial ratios in DEA - an application to goat farming data. A critical examination

Goat farming in Greece, is practiced in disadvantaged regions that cannot be otherwise valorised. For these areas, goat farming is one of the main economics activities. Despite the significance of the sector, goat farming shows low efficiency and competitiveness and this is due to the high production costs. Most farms in Greece operate under increasing scale. The goal of this paper is to present how corporate performance can be measured - using data envelopment analysis (DEA) method - with financial indexes. DEA is a useful technique that measures the efficiency. However, the lack of the ability to attend to ratio measures is an ongoing challenge in DEA. In this paper there is a combination of DEA and financial ratios and that has many advantages. It is implemented by a specific procedure that is called directional distance function, and the main advantage of this method, belonging to the class of non-radial approach, is the flexibility.

Incorporating financial ratios in DEA - an application to goat farming data. A critical examination

Goat farming in Greece, is practiced in disadvantaged regions that cannot be otherwise valorised. For these areas, goat farming is one of the main economics activities. Despite the significance of the sector, goat farming shows low efficiency and competitiveness and this is due to the high production costs. Most farms in Greece operate under increasing scale. The goal of this paper is to present how corporate performance can be measured - using data envelopment analysis (DEA) method - with financial indexes. DEA is a useful technique that measures the efficiency. However, the lack of the ability to attend to ratio measures is an ongoing challenge in DEA. In this paper there is a combination of DEA and financial ratios and that has many advantages. It is implemented by a specific procedure that is called directional distance function, and the main advantage of this method, belonging to the class of non-radial approach, is the flexibility.

A Decision Support System for Economically Sustainable Sheep and Goat Farming.

The European sheep and goat sector is characterized by low professionalization and management training. Moreover, it is fragmented in terms of production aims and farming systems. Here, iSAGEDSS, a web-based application allowing dairy and meat small ruminant farmers in different countries to make annual management plans by testing future scenarios, is presented. Data were obtained for the meat sheep (United Kingdom and Spain), dairy sheep (France and Greece) and dairy goat production systems (Greece) from partners of the Innovation for Sustainable Sheep and Goat Production in Europe (iSAGE) project. These were used to set default values and ranges for all important farm parameters in each system and country. An algorithm was developed assessing nutritional management and its impact on production and financial performance. Reports focus on profitability, productivity and environmental sustainability. A case study in three dairy sheep farms in Greece was performed. In each case, an evaluation scenario was created using actual farm data that were compared with the estimated ones. Two scenarios testing management decisions for gross margin maximization and milk pricing fluctuations were created. Application results showed high prediction accuracy for gross margin and production estimation (error of circa 9% and 4%, respectively). Moreover, the ability to promote financial, production and grazing management efficiency was demonstrated.

Spatial Parameters for the development of Floating Wind Farms in Greece

The interest in offshore wind farm markets has recently turned to the use of the strong wind power that can be found in deep-sea marine areas with the use of innovative technology in floating wind farms. This activity attracts the interest of economic actors globally, with prevention still necessary to avoid potential conflicts with other maritime activities and protect sensitive local marine ecosystems. The main research interest of this study focuses on the role that the particular characteristics of the local legal framework can have on the spatial planning of activities. The steps taken in this gradual approach include current spatial planning practice, case law and the country’s experience in related projects. Concluding, an example of the possible spatial planning of FWFs, based on the current tools available in the country’s spatial planning system, is provided.

Genomic Insights into the Fish-Pathogenic Mycobacterium pseudoshottsii Strain AR Recovered from Meagre (Argyrosomus regius).

Mycobacteriosis can cause morbidity and mortality and is characterized as a disease with zoonotic potential that is found worldwide in both fresh and marine fish. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Mycobacterium pseudoshottsii strain AR, an isolate recovered from infected meagre (Argyrosomus regius) raised on farms in Greece.

Assessing Environmental Impacts of Sea Bass Cage Farms in Greece and Albania Using Life Cycle Assessment

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly used in aquaculture studies to quantitatively assess materials, energy flows and impacts of a production system and to evaluate the environmental performance of products and services. The application of LCA to sea bass production in two marine farms located in Greece and Albania demonstrated that feed and accordingly feed conversion ratio, followed by fry were the two predominant factors mostly affecting the eighteen ecological impact categories assessed. In particular, for the Greek farm, feed affected all but one of the impact categories from 76.5 to 99.9%, reflecting the relation of fish feed not only to resource use, but also to impacts during processing, transportation and to its distribution to the farmed stocks. The role of feed was also reflected on its share (90.6%) in the ‘global warming’ indicator. Fry production resulted in a major contribution (99.0%) to the ‘water consumption’ impact category, which is related to the hatchery operation. Concerning the Albanian farm, the impact of fish feed was even more pronounced in most of the ecological indicators, due to the absence of motorised equipment. It is concluded that feeding management and initiatives to improve the cost and the environmental impact in both counties could result in immediate improvements of the ecological and economical outcomes of the mariculture industry in the region. Further benefits are also expected for the ecological sustainability and economic viability of the sector, as consumers are exhibiting interest in environmental awareness and eco-labelling.

Fish farming, metals and antibiotics in the eastern Mediterranean Sea: Is there a threat to sediment wildlife?

Chemical residues released from aquaculture farms may persist in the environment and may pose adverse ecological effects. The aim of this study was to assess the pollution status of marine sediments underneath or close to aquaculture farms in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, the factors that affect the elemental distribution, and the exceedance of environmental quality standards and factors. To this end, surface sediment samples were collected (underneath fish cages, at 25 m distance and from a reference station) from 48 fish farms in Greece with variable environmental and geochemical characteristics. The content of 29 metals and major and trace elements, and three antibiotics (oxytetracycline, florfenicol, and flumequine), was determined in the sediment samples. Most of the elements found in the sediments originated from geological sources and their concentrations were close to Earth's Crust content. Below and close to fish farm cages, the sediment was enriched with P, Cu, Zn, Mo, and Cd mainly due to the aquaculture biosolid deposition, and changes in environmental conditions (increased organic matter, low redox potential). Cr and As were found to exceed twice the upper threshold limit of the available sediment quality guidelines in 13.5% and 7.3% of sampling stations, respectively. The potential ecological risk of V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As and Pb was found to be low in the sediment close to fish cages except for Cd, which may pose a moderate to considerable risk in 12.5% of sampled fish farms. However, the estimated risks for this metal may be influenced by the high background levels found in the investigated areas. This study also shows that the occurrence of antibiotics in sediments below fish farms in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea is very sparse (i.e., only flumequine was found in two farms) and concentration levels are relatively low.

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Intestinal Parasite Infections in Greek Swine Farrow-To-Finish Farms.

Intestinal parasites, helminths, and protozoa challenge health and welfare of pigs and deteriorate the sustainability of swine farms leading to monetary losses. A multicentric survey was conducted for approximately one year. Overall, 1150 fecal samples were collected from eight intensive farms in Greece at regular intervals and examined by flotation and Ziehl-Neelsen techniques. Age, season, and time of last recorded antiparasitic treatment were assessed as possible risk factors using binary regression models. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitism in pigs was 44.7%. The most frequently detected parasites in the studied population were the protozoa Balantidium coli (37.8%), followed by Entamoeba spp. (8.3%), Cystoisospora suis (6.0%), and the nematodes Ascaris suum (3.7%), Trichuris suis (2.5%), and Oesophagostomum spp. (1.4%). Distribution of intestinal parasites in different age groups was as expected. In autumn, the prevalence of Balantidium coli infection enhanced whereas the prevalence of Entamoeba spp. and Cystoisospora suis infections increased in spring. Time of last recorded antiparasitic treatment influenced Balantidium coli and Trichuris suis infection levels. Our results demonstrated that swine intestinal parasitism in intensive farms of Greece seems to be relatively common and highlighted the importance of proper laboratory examinations, as well as the need for tailored made control programs.

Spatial energy planning of offshore wind farms in Greece using GIS and a hybrid MCDM methodological approach

The present paper focuses on the efficient development of offshore wind farms in shallow waters in Greece. An integrated spatial energy planning approach is introduced. The proposed methodology is implemented using geographic information system and Statistical Design Institute software and applied at the national spatial planning scale. It consists of four distinct stages: (1) identifying appropriate areas to site offshore wind farms (the macro-siting configuration), (2) determining the principal technical specifications of the offshore wind turbines as well as the micro-siting configurations of offshore wind projects, (3) estimating the total investment cost of each potential offshore wind project, and (4) prioritizing the most suitable potential sites for offshore wind farms based on specific assessment criteria. The final outcomes of the proposed methodology are the development of a marine site suitability index and an assessment of the effects of different policy orientations for offshore wind farm siting on that index. Four ‘what-if’ critical scenarios are applied to test the robustness of the overall suitability index to the subjectivity of expert judgments of potential sites and thus assess the reliability of the proposed methodology. The implementation of the proposed methodology could facilitate the fulfillment of national targets for the energy sector and encourage energy interdependence among many geographic areas in Greece, since the total estimated production capacity of all the proposed offshore wind projects is expected to reach 1,185 MW.