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Pilot farms: an initiative to utilise new livestock farming systems
in an upland region of NW Italy (Piedmont Alta Langa)

M Bianchi, LM Battaglini, R Fortina, S Galfione


In Alta Langa (Cuneo province), livestock farming is a traditional activity producing typical regional products that has also been shown to be an essential tool for the appropriate use and exploitation of fodder resources and the environment. In the recent past, economic, social and technological difficulties have increasingly resulted in the agricultural abandonment of this area.

Marginalisation of agricultural land in Alta Langa can be only in part blamed on the industrial development of the Piemonte region; an important factor in this process has also been restricted opportunities for mechanisation in agriculture and the limited development of alternative activities, such as tourism and craft industries.

Livestock on these farms is mainly represented by two cattle breeds (the double purpose original Piedmont and the dairy Aosta Red Pied, recently introduced) and a dairy sheep (Delle Langhe). Both bovine and ovine milks are used - mixed - for the production of a typical cheese. Two pilot farms have been established in this upland area (altitude, 700 m), a region characterised by a period of maximum growth of vegetation in springtime, and a more or less intense dry period during the summer. The grazing season is estimated to be, on average, 200 days (15 April - 31 October).

These pilot farms enable technicians and farmers to develop knowledge on livestock farming systems in order to:

· improve farm viability;

· promote the respect of the environment and the conservation of the landscape in these endangered upland areas;

· innovate professional training of the farmers, especially the younger farmers;

· training technicians by means of a course, "Conservation and valorisation of livestock farming systems in unfavourable territories";

· solve problems inherent the farming families' quality of life;

· obtain useful information in terms of agricultural and economic policy to apply wider in upland areas;

· achieve a rapid transformation of the largest number of farms at the minimum expense.

Useful information is already available from data on animal and pasture productivity, which are being surveyed in the extensive grazing systems used on the two farms. The first results demonstrate that there has been a beneficial effect from the change of management.

The aim of the programme (funded by EC Reg. 2052/88 objective 5b for the development of rural areas) is to transfer these new acquisitions to other farms, to enhance their productivity and to improve the quality of life of families living in these marginal areas, while at the same time preserving a specific and distinctive environment. The plan represents a complete innovation in this region, characterised by traditional forms of breeding and the pilot farms are considered to be the best means for the transfer of knowledge and ideas in a social environment where changes are not so easily adopted.

Contact: Luca Battaglini, Dipartimento Scienze Zootecniche,

University of Torino, Corso Svizzera, 185 - 10149 Torino - Italia

tel. (39)11.77.67.989 - (39) 11.77.68.984

fax (39) 11.77.68.984

E-mail : lmbatt@tin.it


MLURIFAUNUS
23 October 1996