ENVIRONMENTAL INCOME OF LIVESTOCK GRAZING ON PRIVATELY-OWNED SILVOPASTORAL FARMS IN ANDALUSIA, SPAIN

In Mediterranean silvopastoral ecosystems, grazing continues to be a key economic practice that shapes forest, woodland, shrubland and grassland and remains a primary feed source for livestock breeding. However, conventional national accounting statistics do not provide information on livestock grazing leases and environmental income. The main goals of this study were to apply the residual value method for measuring livestock grazing forage consumption and its private environmental price according to the predominant vegetation at the farm scale. We use data from a random survey of private landowners of indicated silvopastoral farms and a group of farm case studies with bookkeeping. Results indicate that livestock grazing average forage consumption per hectare in western and eastern Andalusia provinces are, respectively, 544 and 623 FU ha(-1) for grasslands, 491 and 381 for Mediterranean hardwoods, 452 and 229 for shrublands and 268 and 548 for pine trees. The environmental price for livestock grazing forage unit in western and eastern provinces groups attains Euro0.05 FU-1 and (sic)0.06 FU-1, respectively. This study is a novel contribution to the livestock grazing economics of private silvopastoral farms in Andalusia, Spain. Copyright (c) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.