In semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean basin, sheep and goat herding has been a land management activity for millennia. In the last decades, intensification of grazing has resulted in grazing land degradation. Today, many sheep farms face growing dependence from feed to cover the dietary needs of animals, as grazing land productivity covers only a fraction of these needs and decreasing economic outputs. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for linking grazing lands management practices and economic viability of sheep farms in Agra, a village in Western Lesvos.

The CAP reform 2014 – 2020 maintains the two pillars and introduces a new architecture of direct payments; better targeted, more equitable and greener, an enhanced safety net and strengthened rural development. In order to highlight the gap between CAP implementation and pastures sustainable management, a case study was done in the area of Tzoumerka Mountain.

In Cantabrian Mountains (N Spain), summer pastures are mostly utilized for beef cattle production. This work aimed to study cow and calf performance of two local breeds, Asturiana de los Valles (AV) and Asturiana de la Montaña (AM), grazing at different pasture mixtures from June to October. Data were recorded from 1995 to 2013 in a high mountain area, which was divided in two plots of 30 ha each: one with 70 per cent grassland and 30 per cent Calluna-heathland cover (C30), and another with 30 per cent grassland and 70 per cent heathland cover (C70).