Analysis of the Sustainability of Fattening Systems for Iberian Traditional Pig Production through a Technical and Environmental Approach

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Iberian traditional pig production has been linked to the use of the natural resources of the dehesa ecosystem. In the last decades, the Spanish livestock sector has experienced a significant transformation towards the intensification of livestock systems. The intensification of the system combined with the increased demand for high-quality Iberian products resulted in a greater demand for feedstuffs as inputs into the Iberian pig production system. For these reasons, the Iberian pig exploitation in the dehesa ecosystem should be studied considering economic and environmental criteria to identify strategies for more sustainable livestock production. From the analyses carried out, the relationship between livestock management and environmental values obtained has been determined. Iberian traditional pig production has room for improvement in terms of economic and environmental values. In order to achieve this, appropriate fattening strategies should be implemented to optimize the use of available resources and improve economic-environmental performance for sustainable development. The importance of exploring sustainable management on this animal system derives because a sustainable Iberian traditional pig production has an important role in maintaining the population in rural areas through livestock activity as an economic engine. ABSTRACT: At present, two types of fattening are carried out in Iberian traditional pig production. The montanera is the fattening system where fatteners are fed on acorns and pasture in the dehesa, and cebo de campo is the fattening where the pigs are fed on compound feed and natural resources, mainly pasture. The aim of this paper is to analyze Iberian fattening production from an economic and environmental approach in order to identify fattening strategies to increase the sustainability of this traditional livestock activity. Based on technical-economic and environmental variables, the differences between Iberian farms according to the types of fattening were determined using discriminant analysis techniques. The model based on environmental variables showed a greater predictive ability than that found in the model based on technical-economic variables. Consequently, environmental variables can be used as reference points to classify the Iberian farms according to the type of fattening. Furthermore, canonical correlation analysis allowed to study the relationships between both sets of variables, showing that environmental values had a strong correlation with technical-economic variables. The results of this study show that it is possible to improve the sustainability of Iberian traditional pig production through fattening strategies in both types of fattening.