Ripoll-Bosch R, Joy M, Bernués A
1Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón (CITA). Av. Montañana 930,50059 Zaragoza,Spain.
Animal. 2014 Aug;8(8):1229-37. doi: 10.1017/S1751731113000529. Epub 2013 Apr 4.
Traditional mixed livestock cereal- and pasture-based sheep farming systems in Europe are threatened by intensification and specialisation processes. However, the intensification process does not always yield improved economic results or efficiency. This study involved a group of farmers that raised an autochthonous sheep breed (Ojinegra de Teruel) in an unfavourable area of North-East Spain. This study aimed to typify the farms and elucidate the existing links between economic performance and certain sustainability indicators (i.e. productivity, self-sufficiency and diversification). Information was obtained through direct interviews with 30 farms (73% of the farmers belonging to the breeders association). Interviews were conducted in 2009 and involved 32 indicators regarding farm structure, management and economic performance. With a principal component analysis, three factors were obtained explaining 77.9% of the original variance. This factors were named as inputs/self-sufficiency, which included the use of on-farm feeds, the amount of variable costs per ewe and economic performance; productivity, which included lamb productivity and economic autonomy; and productive orientation, which included the degree of specialisation in production. A cluster analysis identified the following four groups of farms: high-input intensive system; low-input self-sufficient system; specialised livestock system; and diversified crops-livestock system. In conclusion, despite the large variability between and within groups, the following factors that explain the economic profitability of farms were identified: (i) high feed self-sufficiency and low variable costs enhance the economic performance (per labour unit) of the farms; (ii) animal productivity reduces subsidy dependence, but does not necessarily imply better economic performance; and (iii) diversity of production enhances farm flexibility, but is not related to economic performance.
欧洲传统的以谷物和牧场混合养殖为基础的绵羊养殖系统正受到集约化和专业化进程的威胁。然而，集约化进程并不总能带来更好的经济成果或效率提升。本研究涉及一群在西班牙东北部条件不利地区饲养本地绵羊品种（特鲁埃尔黑羊）的养殖户。本研究旨在对这些农场进行分类，并阐明经济绩效与某些可持续性指标（即生产力、自给自足和多样化）之间的现有联系。通过对30个农场（73%的养殖户属于养殖者协会）进行直接访谈获取信息。访谈于2009年进行，涉及32项有关农场结构、管理和经济绩效的指标。通过主成分分析，得到了三个因素，解释了原始方差的77.9%。这些因素被命名为投入/自给自足，包括农场饲料的使用、每只母羊的可变成本金额和经济绩效；生产力，包括羔羊生产力和经济自主性；以及生产导向，包括生产专业化程度。聚类分析确定了以下四组农场：高投入集约化系统；低投入自给自足系统；专业化畜牧系统；以及多样化作物-畜牧系统。总之，尽管组内和组间存在很大差异，但确定了以下解释农场经济盈利能力的因素：（i）高饲料自给自足和低可变成本提高了农场（按劳动单位计算）的经济绩效；（ii）动物生产力降低了对补贴的依赖，但不一定意味着更好的经济绩效；（iii）生产多样化增强了农场的灵活性，但与经济绩效无关。
