Factors Influencing Summer Farms Management in the Alps

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study area and summer farms location in Veneto region, northeastern Italy.

Table 1. Evolution of livestock sector in the study area and in the rest of Veneto region between 1980-2000.

	Mountainous area			Rest of the region
	1980	2000	% Difference	1980	2000	% Difference
Administrative surface, km^2	7897	7897		10,467	10,467
Grassland and pasture, km^2	1136	927	-18.4	767	689	-10.2
Arable crops, km^2	62	61	-1.6	5888	5742	-2.5
No. of cattle farms	8894	2698	-69.7	61,773	18,877	-69.4
No. of cattle	101,646	71,858	-29.3	1,289,054	859,479	-33.3
No. of dairy farms	8030	1980	-75.3	45,492	8625	-81.
No. of dairy cows	42,187	32,204	-23.7	265,339	163,213	-38.5
Dairy cows/farm	5.2	16.3	213.5	11	34.7	215.5
No. of sheep+goat farms	2276	907	-60.2	5008	2532	-49.4
No. of sheep+goat	11,192	12,257	9.5	8334	9573	14.5

Table 2. Data collected and variables calculated.

	Description
Ownership	Private (single or collective) or public (municipalities and other institutions)
Accessibility	Two classes: 1=by car; 2=on foot or four wheels drive vehicle
Potable water	Availability (yes/no) of potable water from pipeline
Electricity	Availability (yes/no) of electricity from power lines
Renewable energy	Use (yes/no) of renewable energy sources
Housing	Availability (yes/no) of housing for in situ residence
Milking parlour	Availability (yes/no) of milking parlour
Milk processing	Availability (yes/no) of equipment and rooms for milk processing and cheese seasoning
Resident farmer	Permanent in situ residence (yes/no) during summering
Age of summer farms conductor	Years
Employees for livestock	Total employees (n.) for livestock care (farmer, dairyman, shepherd, etc.)
Summering days	Duration (days) of the summering period
Agro-tourism	Offer (yes/no) of: bar service; restaurant; tourist overnight accommodation; cheese making; products retail
Employees for agro-tourism	Total employees (n.) for agro-tourism activities (cheese-maker, cook, waiter, etc.)
Opening days	Days (no.) of opening of agro-tourism
Livestock unit	Number of different livestock categories standardised as LU: cattle >2 years =1 LU; cattle 0.5-2 years = 0.6 LU; sheep and goats = 0.15 LU.
Dairy cows %	LU from cows in milk expressed as percentage of total LU
Dry cows and replacement %	LU from dry cows and replacement (calves, heifers) expressed as percentage of total LU
Beef cattle %	LU from beef cattle (calves, young bulls, heifers) expressed as percentage of total LU
Small ruminants %	LU from sheep and goat expressed as percentage of total LU
Grazing area	Mapped (1:10,000) during field survey and then implemented and measured (hectares) in GIS
Stocking rate	Calculated as LU/ha grazing area
Slope score of grazing area	Calculated from a DTM as Slope Score = 1(P<10)+2(P10-30)+4(P>30), where P<10= % of pixels of grazing area with slope <10°; P10-30= % of pixels with slope ranging between 10° and 30°; P>30= % of pixels with slope >30°
Elevation	Average elevation (m asl) of grazing area
Land use of grazing area	Obtained from interpretation of ortophotographs (1:10,000) with four categories: pasture=less than 10% of shrub/tree cover; wooded pasture=10-30% shrub/tree cover; re-forestation=30-70% shrub/tree cover; forest=>70% tree cover

LU, livestock unit.

Table 3. Parameters, factors and weights used for the calculation of the livestock and social indexes.

		Livestock index
Parameters	Factors	Values assigned to factors	Weights assigned to parameter
Predominant animal category	Beef cattle	0.1	0.7
	Small ruminants	0.2	0.7
	Dry/Replacement cows	0.3	0.7
	Cows in milk	1	0.7
Resident in situ	Yes	1	0.3
	No	0	0.3
		Social index
Employees, farming	Summering period (d) x number of employees in farming^°	Values standardized on 90^th percentile	0.5
Employees, no farming	Agro-tourism opening days x number of employees^#	Values standardized on 90^th percentile	0.5

^°Farmer, dairyman, shepherd

^#waiter, cook, cheese-maker.

Table 4. Profiles of identified clusters of alpine summer pastures.

	Cluster 1		Cluster 2
	No. of summer farms	Percentage within cluster	No. of summer farms	Percentage within cluster
Private ownership	28	15	208	70
Potable water	187	99	165	56
Electricity power line	115	62	71	24
Renewable energy	36	19	18	6
Available housing	183	97	246	83
Milking parlour	67	37	9	3
Equipment for cheese making	106	56	20	7
Total	189		295
Interpretation	Public ownership with multifunctional vocation		Private ownership

Table 5. Management and environmental features of the identified clusters.

	Cluster 1, mean	Cluster 2, mean	P^°
Management
Resident in situ, %	76.2	40.7	<0.001
Age of conductor	47	49	ns
Total employees, mean	3.2	1.8	<0.001
Dairy cows, % of LU/unit	54	22	<0.001
Dry cows/replacement, % of LU/unit	32	54	<0.001
Beef cattle, % of LU/unit	3	7	ns
Small ruminants, % of LU/unit	9	14	ns
Agro-touristic activity, %	33.3	6.1	<0.001
Environmental
Pasture area, ha	72.8	64.5	0.01
LU, total n.	57.5	45.7	<0.001
LU/ha pasture area	1.09	0.98	0.015
Elevation, m asl	1402	1422	ns
Summering, days	116	116	ns

^°For frequencies a χ² test was used; ns, not significant.

Table 6. Multiple regression analysis of functional indexes.

Variable		Livestock index				Social index
	b	t	P	Partial R^2, %	b	t	P	Partial R^2, %
Intercept	0.41	13.7	<0.001		0.26	13.3	<0.001
Cluster, 1 vs 2	0.11	10.1	<0.001	25.1	0.06	8.5	<0.001	18.6
Slope index	-0.04	-2.9	0.005	2.9	-0.05	-6.3	<0.001	11.8
Dairy cows/ha in MC surface	0.08	2.4	0.019	1.3	0.07	3.4	<0.001	2.6
R^2, %			29.3				33.0

MC, Mountain Community: local administrative institutions, grouping more municipalities, deputed to promotion and management of mountain resources.