Emergent Properties of Land Systems: Nonlinear Dynamics of Scottish Farming Systems from 1867 to 2020

Dynamics of arable and pastoral farming systems in Scotland over the period 1867–2020 are documented using time series analysis methods, including for nonlinear dynamical systems. Results show arable and pastoral farming, at a national scale, are dynamic over a range of timescales, with medium- and short-term dynamics associated with endogenous system forces and exogenous factors, respectively. Medium-term dynamics provide evidence of endogenous systems-level feedbacks between farming sectors responding to change in world and national cereal prices as an economic driver, and act to dampen impacts of exogenous shocks and events (weather, disease). Regime shifts are identified in national cereal prices. Results show change and dynamics as emergent properties of system interactions. Changes in dynamics and strength of endogenous dampening over the duration of the study are associated with dynamical changes from major governmental policy decisions that altered the boundary conditions for interdependencies of arable and pastoral farming.

Local breeds and pastoral farming on the North Mediterranean shore: a univocal coevolution? An example of dairy sheep farming systems in Corsica (France) and Thessaly (Greece)

Using local resources for ruminant feeding is a way to achieve agroecological production in pastoral farming systems. In North Mediterranean countries, sheep farming systems have evolved towards more intensive systems in lowland and hilly areas, whereas remote and rough pastureland is abandoned and local breeds are rarely maintained; rather, they are progressively replaced by highly productive breeds and their crosses. Using the examples of Corsica (France) and Thessaly (Greece), two dairy sheep farming territories developing intensive farming systems that differ in the livestock breeds they use, we explored the hypothesis that the use of local breeds may not be systematically related to the maintenance of pastoral practices in Mediterranean dairy sheep farming systems. For this purpose, three data sets based on interviews with sheep farmers of local breeds and crossbred flocks were analysed in two study areas. The results demonstrated that local breeds’ adaptive abilities can be used in crossbred flocks or purebred flocks to maintain a feeding system based on pastoral components. However, other drivers also appear to lead into the declining use of local pastoral resources. Apart from the use of local breeds, year-to-year adjustments of replacement and culling rates sometimes have to be applied in order to address the inter-annual variations of the fodder on offer. This paper provides an original approach to studying the link between local breeds and the pastoral components of farming systems by combining synchronic and diachronic analyses of the practices in crossbred and purebred flocks composed of local breeds.

Future Prospects on the Goat Activities for the Coming Decades in the Context of a World in Transition

This article explores the evolution of the goat sector in the world between 2000 and 2020 and its prospects. We base it mainly on the statistics available as well as on the author’s observations and his involvement in various projects. It also updates a study carried out on the same subject on the last decades of the 20th century. We observed a constant development and growth of the goat sector during this period. The trend has been the same between 2000 and 2020 but less strong and more localized in Asia and Africa. Several scenarios on our global future lead to consider the absolute need to preserve environment and biodiversity but above all to reduce the emission of GHGs for all productive sectors on the planet. In this case, we will face a dramatic progress and adevelopment paradigm shift. Although goat systems emit less GHGs than other ruminants, we can also observe an overall increase in net emissions by the goat sector between 2000. So, they contribute significantly and their net emission has to be reduced, which will disadvantage the most intensive systems. However, while animal production and the consumption of its products are increasingly ostracized, goat farming (as pastoral farming in general) could have a bright future in this context. Goats, particularly those of local populations and breeds, have more than any other ruminant significant capacities to valorize spontaneous absorbing GHGs forage resources (grass, shrubs, crop or feed residues) and without other uses. In addition, goats are easy to integrate in small farms and strengthen the complementarity between agriculture and animal production, largely abandoned in favor of specialization. The strengthening of localized and interdisciplinary scientific research will also be necessary to strengthen the role of goat farming and innovation and the author proposes the establishment of “living labs” associating all the actors involved for this purpose.

The Biomass Reallocation Program

Underlying human-caused extinctions, past and present, is a vast biomass reallocation program. Before our Neolithic forebears began changing the world, biomass was distributed quite evenly among species of animals and plants. The tenure of humans has seen a marked change in this, as biomass became progressively concentrated into a small number of species—us and animals we eat. Today, 96% of all mammalian biomass consists in humans and the mammals that humans farm. An additional 70% of all avian biomass consists in domestic fowl. This biomass reallocation is the most significant driver of species extinction. The number-one driver of species extinction today is change in land use. The most significant driver of change in land use is agricultural expansion. By far the most prominent form of agricultural expansion is pastoral farming and the growing of animal feed crops. Eating animals is, therefore, the most important driver of species extinction.

Integrating Digital Technologies to Aid Grassland Productivity and Sustainability

Digital technologies provide an opportunity to further increase the sustainability and productivity of grasslands and rangelands. Three resources are key to that change. These are the soil on which forage grows, the forages that grow on those soils and the animals that use the forage resource as food. This paper describes elements of technologies to measure and monitor these resources and provides some insights on combining that knowledge and controlling the animal's utilization through virtual fencing. There are many potential challenges to the application of digital technologies to pastoral farming. These often require the calibration of digital signals to define biophysical characteristics. The significant repository of historic data of pasture growth over many geo-climatic regions, for example, provides New Zealand with an opportunity to accelerate that development. Future advances in rangeland use, nutrient deposition, greenhouse gas emissions and the provision and utilization of high quality and quantity will be enabled by the application of digital technologies at scale, under the control of virtual fencing. Digital technologies may provide the means to maintain or enhance ruminant production from grassland in a sustainable operating space into the future.

The Central Uplands of Buchan – a distinctive agricultural zone in the thirteenth century: fact or fiction?

It can be argued, based upon a limited range of surviving evidence, that the land-locked centre of Buchan formed a distinctive upland zone functioning alongside and interwoven with the surrounding lower lands during the thirteenth century. The area can be characterised as less densely settled and engaged in extensive pastoral farming regimes that contrasted with contemporary arable farming of a more intensive nature on the lower-lying lands. Subsequent demographic and agricultural changes have rendered that former environment invisible and the limited documentary sources of the thirteenth century have compounded its mystery. Although a relatively remote upland area, its economy was at least as successful per capita than the rich grain lands surrounding it. Rather than representing a place of secondary importance, it may well have been instrumental in fuelling Aberdeen’s rich thirteenth-century export trade of sheep products to the Low Countries and, perhaps, shared a symbiotic relationship with the lower, arable lands.

The past and perspective development of pasturing and tourism in the mountains: insights from Norway and Slovenia

The paper aims to analyse the characteristics and trends in pastoral farming, tourism and recreation in the Norwegian and Slovenian mountains and resulting landscape changes. These land uses and related driving forces have been scrutinised in the context of economic, social, and political aspects. While pastoral farming has a centuries-old tradition in the higher altitudes of both countries, interest in mountains for tourism and recreational purposes dates back only to the nineteenth century but has been increasing steadily ever since. The findings of the study, based on a literature review and secondary data, suggest that the social, economic, and especially the political situation in Norway and Slovenia have been different, but the development of mountains in both countries in the field of mountain pasturing and tourism and recreation has shared more similarities than differences, although nuances and specificities should not be disregarded. It is evident that mountain pasturing in both countries is sensitive to societal changes. Further on, we can infer the synergy and the right balance between it and tourism and recreation can be an opportunity for a viable mountain economic situation and would preserve the long traditions of cooperation between the two sectors. // Članek analizira značilnosti in trende pašništva in rekreacije ter posledične spremembe pokrajine v norveških in slovenskih gorah. Spremembe v rabi zemljišč in z njimi povezane gonilne sile smo preučili z ekonomskega, družbenega in političnega vidika. Planinsko pašništvo ima v obeh državah večstoletno tradicijo, zanimanje za gore iz turističnih in rekreativnih vzgibov pa se je začelo šele v 19. stoletju, vendar se od tedaj stalno povečuje. Ugotovitve te študije, ki temeljijo na pregledu obstoječe literature in sekundarnih podatkov, kažejo, da je bil družbeni, gospodarski in še posebej politični položaj na Norveškem in v Sloveniji sicer različen, vendar razvoj gorskih območij v obeh državah izkazuje več podobnosti kot razlik, pri čemur ne smemo zanemariti določenih razhajanj in posebnosti. Jasno je, da na planinsko pašništvo v obeh državah vplivajo družbene spremembe. Prav tako je očitno, da sinergija in ustrezno ravnovesje med planinskim pašništvom in turizmom ter rekreacijo nudita priložnost za vitalno gospodarsko stanje v gorah in obenem omogočata ohranitev dolgoletne tradicije sodelovanja med obema panogama.

Herd simulation model of muturu cattle under sedentary pastoral farming in derived savannah, Southeast, Nigeria

Herd simulation model was adopted to assess the productivity of Muturu cattle under sedentary pastoral system within southeast, Nigeria. The model involved biomass and other productivity investigations of the Muturu herds on field-gazed and stall-fed management within the wet and dry season period. Biological entities of Muturu herds from 500 Muturu cattle holders (MCH) and Non-Pastoral holders (NPH) surveyed from year 2010 to 2019 were studied. The sedentary production system was simulated and statistically analyzed. The results showed 70 percent MCH and 30 percent NPH, with60 percent of the Muturu stock sourced through donation/leasing arrangement by the NPH, while only 5 percent of the stock for the study was through purchase arrangement by the MCH. Sedentary pastoral system in southeast Nigeria operates at a very low commercial level. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in some of the biological entities such as live weight at 12 and 24 months, which were better in the wet season than in the dry season. The stall-fed management was relatively better than the field grazed management. Simulated values were higher than the actual values in some of the biological entities but fit in with field grazed and stall-fed management. The efficiency of Livestock/forage production under the sedentary system was very low with 13.02, 15.32 and 17.35 percent respectively for field-grazed, stall-fed management and simulation model. The herd biomass and productivity values of Muturu herd under the sedentary pastoral system in the Southeast region were very low with 25.00 and 33.33 percent for field grazed and stall-fed management respectively. Un modèle de simulation de troupeau a été adopté pour évaluer la productivité des bovins Muturu sous système pastoral sédentaire dans le sud-est du Nigeria. Le modèle impliquait des études sur la biomasse et d'autres études de productivité des troupeaux de Muturu sur la gestion surveillée sur le terrain et nourrie en stabulation pendant la période de saison humide et sèche. Les entités biologiques des troupeaux Muturu de 500 éleveurs Muturu (le 'MCH') et non pastoraux (le 'NPH') enquêtés de 2010 à 2019 ont été étudiées. Le système de production sédentaire a été simulé et analysé statistiquement. Les résultats ont montré 70 pour cent de 'MCH' et 30 pour cent de 'NPH', avec 60 pour cent du stock de Muturu provenant d'un accord de don / location par le 'NPH', tandis que seulement 5 pour cent du stock de l'étude provenait d'un accord d'achat par le 'MCH'. Le système pastoral sédentaire du sud-est du Nigéria fonctionne à un niveau commercial très bas. Il y avait des differences significatives (P <0.05) dans certaines des entités biologiques telles que le poids vif à 12 et 24 mois, qui étaient meilleures pendant la saison des pluies que pendant la saison sèche. La gestion des étables était relativement meilleure que la gestion des pâturages sur le terrain. Les valeurs simulées étaient plus élevées que les valeurs réelles dans certaines des entités biologiques, mais cadraient avec la gestion des pâturages sur le terrain et des stalles. L'efficacité de la production de bétail / fourrage dans le système sédentaire était très faible avec 13.02, 15.32 et 17.35 pour cent respectivement pour le modèle de gestion et de simulation sur pâturage au champ, en stabulation. Les valeurs de la biomasse et de la productivité du troupeau deMuturu sous le système pastoral sédentaire dans la région du Sud-Est étaient très faibles avec 25.00 et 33.33pour centrespectivement pour la gestion des pâturages au champ et des stalles.

Hampshire Agriculture in the Middle Ages: The Bishop of Winchester's Manor of North Waltham

The bishops of Winchester were the richest bishops in medieval England and they dominated landownership in Hampshire. Moreover, they left the fullest surviving documentation for any large estate in medieval England. This article uses a sample of the documentation to examine the agriculture of the great estate and some of the influences on it. By examining the lord's activity on a single well-documented manor it seeks to help our understanding of developments in Hampshire agriculture: its growth and contraction, its arable and pastoral farming, and the employment of its labour.