Antonello Franca

Italian National Research Council | CNR · Institute for Animal Production System in Mediterranean Environment ISPAAM

Sustainable pastoral landscapes: when sheep's milk is zero Carbon emission - the experience of the SheepToShip LIFE project: In Italy, one third of the grazing land is located in Sardinia and most of it is devoted to Sardinian sheep rearing, taking place in about ten thousand farms. More than three million sheep are raised on the island almost tw...

Three million sheep raised on 10,000 active farms operating in traditional and innovative farming systems in Sardinia, Italy account for 13% of sheep milk production in the European Union (EU). Almost all delivered milk is processed to sheep cheese and is destined for world trade. The Sardinian dairy sheep sector also emits approximately 1,600 kt C...

In Sardinia (Italy), standard haymaking often results in low quality forages, compelling farmers to feed high levels of concentrates. This study aimed to quantify the effect of improving forage quality on predicted GHG emissions at farm level. For this purpose, a dairy sheep farm was considered as case study and surveyed for a complete annual life...

Considering the relevance of silvopastoral systems in Sardinian rural areas, the objective of this work is to analyse the relationships between tree coverage and main productive and environmental performances of Sardinian dairy sheep farms. A survey on twenty-six farms provided productive and environmental indicators. Land cover of the farm paddock...

Highlights • Extensification of dairy sheep systems provides an environmental benefit when soil C sequestration is considered. • Extensification of dairy sheep systems determines lower environmental impact per hectare of utilized agricultural area. • Enteric methane emissions are the main source of GHG emissions of the sheep milk life cycle. •...

This study aimed to provide insight on the impact of improving flock fertility on predicted GHG emissions at farm level. For this purpose, two dairy sheep farms located in Sardinia (Italy) were considered as case study. Farmers were surveyed for a complete annual life cycle inventory (LCI) of cradle-to-gate farm production processes. The LCI includ...

Traditional forms of agroforestry are often recognized as exemplar systems that successfully integrate food production, biodiversity conservation and high cultural values. However many traditional agroforestry systems in Europe are in decline or are threatened and the perspectives of local stakeholders on the production, management, socio-economic,...

The successful promotion of agroforestry in Italy depends on both a recognition of tradition and the opportunities for innovation. In Italy, agroforestry has traditionally been a key component of landscape management. Complex systems, based on the integration among crops–livestock–fruit/forest trees, provided a wide variety of products (e.g. food,...

SheepToShip LIFE is an EU project launched in 2016 to develop an intervention model for the eco-innovation of the Sardinian sheep-dairy supply chain, able to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% over the next 10 years through improved efficiency of production systems. This work shows the preliminary results of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA...

The perspectives of local stakeholders (SHs) are critical in any research and policy making process (Sereke 2016). In order to know the opinions of Italian SHs on how agroforestry systems (AFS) affect production (P), environmental (E), management (M) and socioeconomic (SE) aspects (categories), an online survey was performed in Apr-Jun 2016. A ques...

SheepToShip LIFE project aimed at the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions of dairy sheep value chain in Sardinia. Twenty farms located in contrasting pedo-climatic zones, were surveyed in year 2017 to gather primary data ‘from cradle to farm gate’ for Life Cycle Assessment. This work focuses on two case study farms whose data were analysed to co...

Agroforestry and ecological intensification. The agricultural and forestry sectors are currently facing the dramatic tri-lemma of producing food, energy and wood for a growing world population, while preserving the environment at the same time. Agroforestry systems are able to address those issues by integrating crops and/or grazing animals with wo...

This paper reports the results of a study conducted in Italy, within the AGFORWARD (2014–2017) project, aimed at promoting innovative agroforestry practices in Europe. Agroforestry offers a means for maintaining food production whilst addressing some of the negative environmental effects of intensive agriculture. This study aims to elicit the posit...

Large seed banks in the soils of Mediterranean wood pastures can allow the composition of the understorey vegetation to adapt to changing conditions such as under-grazing, grazing exclusion and climate change. This three year study investigated the effect of grazing exclusion on the transient and persistent seed banks of 23 areas of a Mediterranean...

Sardinia (Italy) plays a relevant role on EU sheep milk production. In Sardinia, as well as in other Mediterranean regions, there is a range of different dairy sheep farming systems and an effective renovation process is needed to tackle the deep structural crisis of the sector. The eco-innovation of production processes and the valorisation of pas...

Despite the significant role of small ruminant sector in the global trends of livestock productions, little research has been conducted on the environmental implications of dairy sheep production systems. Dairy sheep systems are relevant for the economy of many areas of the Mediterranean Basin and the environmental and economic optimization of thei...

In July 2016 the SheepToShip LIFE project was financed by the EU LIFE Programme Climate Action 2014-2020 with the aim to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the dairy sheep sector in Sardinia, an absolute leader on dairy sheep raising. In particular, the main objective of the project is to reduce by 20% in 10 years GHG emissions (nitrous oxide...

Short presentation

Despite the significant role of small ruminant sector in the global trends of livestock productions, little research has been conducted on the environmental implications of dairy sheep production systems. The main objective of this study was to define the environmental profile of a Pecorino Romano PDO, using a "from cradle to retailer" LCA approach...

Mediterranean extensive grassland-based systems were in the past and are currently subjected to the contrasting threats of intensification and abandonment, especially in less favoured areas. Despite the strong socio-economic and environmental differences between and within the Mediterranean regions, they share common issues on grasslands. One of th...