Nicolò Chiasso

Contacts: nicolo.chiasso@phd.unipi.it

Thesis supervisors: Prof. Francesco Paolo di Iacovo

Project title:Sustainability of livestock production in hilly and mountainous areas: socioeconomic aspects and innovation policies

Abstract: The current Italian livestock sector has directed its production systems towards a model based on ever-increasing farm size, capital concentration, and high production intensity. All of this is accompanied by a drastic shift of production from mountainous areas to flatlands, concentrating about 85% of livestock farming in the Po Valley. This situation has put the livestock production of mountainous areas in crisis, which is suffering from a decline in the number of livestock and farms, the lack of generational turnover, the thinning of the population/agriculture-livestock activities, and difficulties in managing natural resources. The theme of this project is to organize a concert of actions and seek innovative solutions aimed at reorganizing the livestock system, in order to bring animal production back to the internal areas and high hill/mountain territories, with a specific focus on areas within the GAL MontagnAppennino. It will seek a participatory approach among public and private actors, citizens, and consumers, with the goal of designing new services for people and businesses, and recovering the lost livestock presence by sharing working pathways, while understanding what the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities are with which the Italian livestock system confronts.