Farming systems for high quality food products and sustainable agriculture in mountainous areas

The agriculture in the mountain districts of southern Norway is based on small farms and use of mountain pastures. High quality products sold at high price are one possible solution for mountain agriculture. Branding of products requires documentation of quality traits. In this project we will develop environment friendly farming systems that are economically viable and make use of mountain pastures. The principal objective for the project is ?Economical and ecological sustainable agriculture in mountaino us areas for high quality food production and maintenance of the summer farming landscape?. A doctor student will be connected to the project with main subject the interaction between plant traits and grazing preferences at different vegetation types and quality of milk and milk products. The chemical composition and forage quality of preferred plant species will be examined. A key point is to find whether and how milk and milk products from mountain pasture differ from milk produced in the lowlands. Be ef from castrates will also be studied to see how mountain pasture affects the meat quality and carcass score. The effect of an autumn fattening period on lowland pasture after the summer mountain pasture period will be studied. Case studies at pilot far ms in three districts, Nord-Østerdalen, Hallingdalen and Valdres, will be used to test different efforts in systems using mountain pastures, where the whole farm is considered. Especially will use of out-field mountain pastures with large herds (20-40 cow s) be studied. The farming system must be economically viable. Different farming systems will be tested with economic models, where the effect of several factors can be outlined. The project will be run by Bioforsk, administratively from Bioforsk Midt-No rge and with dr. Tor Lunnan at Bioforsk Løken as project manager. The project will cooperate with the Rhônes-Alps region in France.