ASSESSMENT OF A DECISION-MAKING MODEL IN MEAT SHEEP COOPERATIVES IN SW SPAIN

Abstract The need to produce safe food products for an ever-growing world population while reducing the impact on climate change makes it necessary for the farm business to combine productivity and sustainability. As more efficient and sustainable production systems need to be developed for this purpose, the creation of new instruments that allow the management of farms and provide information to contribute to their evolution and improvement becomes more relevant. The main goal of this paper is to assess a model to be used as a decision-making tool in a meat sheep cooperative group in southwest Spain. The methodology is structured in three stages: (i) creation of a model, (ii) identification of representative farms and (iii) model assessment. The model is applied to representative farms obtained from a cluster analysis. A simulation of the model is performed taking into account profitability variables under different stocking rate and weather scenarios. The outcomes of the model show that farmers may try to maximize the profitability per hectare adjusting their stoking rate to average weather scenarios. In a climate change framework this model could be a useful tool to assess extensive sheep farms, as it might contribute to the design of sustainable management strategies.