International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 3 (2005) 69–78

A Method to Analyse Decision-making Processes for Land Use Management in Livestock Farming

F.C. Coléno1, M. Duru2 and J.P. Theau3 1INRA, UMR SADAPT, Grignon, France, 2INRA, UMR Arche, Toulouse, France and 3INRA, SICOMOR, Toulouse, France

In order to maintain their income, using European Union grants, mountain livestock farms need to have a production plan based on animal production and environmental objectives. To help farmers to do this, we develop a method allowing the evaluation of land management strategies that are compatible with both objectives. The strategies set up by farmers were examined from four aspects: forage production to feed livestock, grassland sustainability, avoiding dominance of invasive species and enhancing species diversity, and field characteristics which restrict the range of possible uses. Using this method on four suckling cow farms in the Central Pyrenees (SW France), chosen from 40 farms differing in stocking rate per ha and on their ability to grow their own forage, we identify three land management strategies differing in their balance between animal production and grassland improvement objectives. The first and second were focused on animal production and land sustainability, respectively. The third is a compromise between the two objectives. We show that the relative importance of planning and monitoring rules differed for the three strategies. For the first, the planning process is very important, whereas there is not much monitoring required. The converse is true for the other strategies.

Keywords: forage systems, mountainous area, decision making, land use, grassland sustainability

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