Scenarios of optimal organization of sheep and goat transhumance

Sheep and goat transhumance is still practiced in all parts of Greece, as it is suitable for the particular conditions of the country's mountainous areas. The purpose of this study was to present a set of alternative plans of development of the sector under the scenarios of extensification and premium product pricing. Alternative patterns of optimal organization were elaborated by means of mathematical programming, which is an established optimization method for problems including various activities under a set of constraints. The analysis used farm management data from a survey of transhumant farms in an area typical for transhumance, which was divided to three sub-areas according to the dynamics of vegetation succession. Farms in the three sub-areas were found to differ significantly in terms of economic performance, yields and labour use. The results of the analysis demonstrated how the valorization of labour combined with the availability of hired workers led to two different trajectories in the area. In addition, it showed that premium pricing of high-quality milk can have significant impact on the structure of the system. These findings yield important considerations regarding the organization of multifunctional production systems, which play important sociocultural and environmental roles in fragile territories.