Interest in localized agri-food systems has grown significantly in recent years. They are associated with several benefits and are seen as important for rural development. An important share of the academic debate addresses the contribution of localized food systems to the current and/or future sustainability of agriculture. Sustainability is defined in several ways, but many scholars recognize that sustainability can only be achieved by a combination of socio-economic, cultural, and environmental aspects. However, the attributes and indicators used for sustainability analyses also differ. Biodiversity is, for instance, often not included in analyses of environmental sustainability even if biodiversity is of crucial importance for longer-term ecological sustainability. To contribute to the debate about the importance of localized food production for sustainability from the environmental point of view, specifically with regard to biodiversity, this is therefore discussed based on the results of several studies presented in this paper. The studies focus on Nordic low-intensity livestock systems related to species-rich semi-natural grasslands. All the studies show that low-intensive agriculture and use of semi-natural grasslands may play an important role in maintaining biodiversity on both small and large scales. They also show that milk and dairy products from free-ranging livestock in heterogeneous landscapes with semi-natural grasslands may have a unique quality associated with local grazing resources. Thus, producers can combine production of food of documented high nutritional and gastronomic value with maintenance of biodiversity, i.e., localized agri-food production based on low-intensive agriculture systems and semi-natural grasslands may be a win-win recipe for both farmers and the society.
Biodiverse semi-natural pastures are threatened because of sub-optimal grazing. Breed effects on choice of foraging vegetation type, diet and hence pasture management was investigated in dairy cows kept on mountain pastures. Five dairy cows each from the traditional Swedish Mountain breed and the commercial Holstein breed were equipped with GPS receivers measuring animal position for 6 h daily grazing time during 6 days. Plant groups in ingested vegetation were recorded visually for 30 min per cow and day. The grazing area, mapped using infra-red aerial photography combined with field work, consisted of ten vegetation types dominated by bilberry forest (33%), mixed forest (28%) and grass and sedge fen (12%). Although grass-dominated pasture comprised only 0.3% of the area, the cows spent, on average, 27% of their time there. Swedish Mountain cows spent less time in grass-dominated pasture than Holsteins (24% vs. 31%, p = 0.035). Swedish Mountains also travelled longer distances (6.3 vs. 5.0 km, p = 0.016) and were scattered over longer distances from other cows (419 vs. 259 m, p = 0.011). This limited study revealed a general selection of grass-dominated pasture, but indicated that using traditional breeds can result in better management of other vegetation types.
Nature conservation in Norway is based on the idea that wilderness and forest nature reserves should be left to develop naturally. Several studies show that forests have been influenced by human activities to a large extent. The article documents former land use practices in a boreal forest landscape in Nordli, Central Norway, and discussed the ecological consequences with respect to conservation. Traditionally, outfield resources were utilized for haymaking, pollarding, coppicing, grazing, and summer farming. Fodder harvesting methods were closely related to ecological conditions and the production level in the boreal forest landscape. Systematic burning to improve the forest pastures was a natural part of the traditional farming system. The forests were still utilized for grazing as late as 1973. In the 'man-influenced' landscape in Nordli, two boreal forest areas are protected due both to their wilderness character and the presence of native forest species. However, these nature reserves are parts of an extensively utilized forest landscape, where also human footprints are found. It is concluded that to ensure successful conservation of the biodiversity of these and other such forests, former land use practices should be documented, and management schemes should be developed on the basis of the acquired knowledge.
Mountain tourism depends intensively on the quality of the landscape. In recent years, the Norwegian Trekking Association has focused on local food products at their staffed lodges and it uses the slogan "eat the view." Such a strategy raises the focus on the agricultural use of the land and the quality of the products. Several Norwegian studies were carried out to investigate the quality of different mountain products and connections with vegetation types and grazing behavior. The results show that milk and meat products from animals grazing on alpine rangelands have improved quality compared to "normal" products. A healthier fatty acid composition and a higher content of secondary plant metabolites were characteristic of mountain products. Furthermore, grazing is of the utmost importance for the maintenance of open mountain landscapes and the biodiversity that is dependent on such landscapes. Maintaining traditional grazing systems also secures the preservation of traditional ecological knowledge about utilizing natural resources. Mountain tourism experiences could be improved and enhanced by documenting and telling the unique story of these complex connections between mountain landscapes, biodiversity, agricultural traditions, and local food products.
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