Alternative Approaches of Summer Milk Sales from Transhumant Sheep and Goat Farms: A Case Study from Northern Greece
Open Access
- 13 October 2019
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Sustainability
- Vol. 11 (20), 5642
- https://doi.org/10.3390/su11205642
Abstract
Sheep and goat transhumance provides a wide range of ecosystem services (ES). Transhumance-specific dairy products could function as a nexus between the system and the public, incorporating ES which are not remunerated in markets, but in Greece, there are actually no such dairy products. Within this context, the objective of this paper was to present a case study regarding a comparative assessment of three different approaches (supply chains) in milk sales from transhumant farms. The first involved production of cheese on-farm and direct sales to consumers. In the second approach, farmers sold their milk to the same industry throughout the year, where it was mixed with milk from non-transhumant farms. The third approach concerned cheese produced solely from milk of transhumant flocks in a small dairy in the highlands. An assessment framework was developed examining the perceived quality; economic performance of farms; compatibility and; representativeness and contribution of each approach. Based on five in-depth interviews with farmers and dairies, it was found that a combination of the three approaches would be beneficial for farms—to decrease risks—and for the system as a whole, in order to convey the ‘agro-pastoral message’ to wider audiences and to increase the recognisability of transhumance. In addition, the analysis showed that the economic performance of each approach was related more to managerial issues and organizational requirements rather than to the achievement of higher prices and more added value in the first and third approach.Funding Information
- Horizon 2020 (697302)
This publication has 46 references indexed in Scilit:
- Local food: understanding consumer motivations in innovative retail formatsBritish Food Journal, 2011
- Towards Adaptive Governance of Common-Pool Mountainous Agropastoral SystemsSustainability, 2010
- Organic goat production, processing and marketing: Opportunities, challenges and outlookSmall Ruminant Research, 2010
- Creating value through cooperationBritish Food Journal, 2008
- Ecosystem services and agriculture: Cultivating agricultural ecosystems for diverse benefitsEcological Economics, 2007
- The Economics of Mobile Pastoralism: A Global SummaryNomadic Peoples, 2007
- Embeddedness in action: Saffron and the making of the local in southern TuscanyAgriculture and Human Values, 2006
- The role of food quality certification on consumers' food choicesBritish Food Journal, 2006
- Registering regional speciality food and drink products in the United Kingdom: the case of PDOs and PGlsArea, 2000
- Product and PlaceEuropean Urban and Regional Studies, 1998