Economic Resilience in Intensive and Extensive Pig Farming Systems

Lorena Giglio (), Tine Rousing, Dagmara Łodyga, Carolina Reyes-Palomo, Santos Sanz-Fernández, Chiara Serena Soffiantini and Paolo Ferrari
Additional contact information
Lorena Giglio: Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animali-CRPA Soc. Cons. p. A., Viale Timavo 43/2, 42121 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Tine Rousing: Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, Postboks 50, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark
Dagmara Łodyga: Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Poznan University of Live Sciences, Wolynska 33, 60-637 Poznan, Poland
Carolina Reyes-Palomo: Departamento de Producción Animal, IC Zoonosis y Enfermedades Emergentes ENZOEM, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Ctra. Madrid-Cádiz Km. 396, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Santos Sanz-Fernández: Departamento de Producción Animal, IC Zoonosis y Enfermedades Emergentes ENZOEM, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Ctra. Madrid-Cádiz Km. 396, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Chiara Serena Soffiantini: Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animali-CRPA Soc. Cons. p. A., Viale Timavo 43/2, 42121 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Paolo Ferrari: Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animali-CRPA Soc. Cons. p. A., Viale Timavo 43/2, 42121 Reggio Emilia, Italy

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 15, 1-22

Abstract: European pig farmers are challenged by increasingly stringent EU regulations to protect the environment from pollution, to meet animal welfare standards and to make pig farming more sustainable. Economic sustainability is defined as the ability to achieve higher profits by respecting social and natural resources. This study is focused on the analysis of the economic resilience of intensive and extensive farming systems, based on data collected from 56 farms located in Denmark, Poland, Italy and Spain. Productive and economic performances of these farms are analyzed, and economic resilience is assessed through a survey including a selection of indicators, belonging to different themes: [i] resilience of resources, [ii] entrepreneurship, [iii] propensity to extensification. The qualitative data from the questionnaire allow for an exploration of how production systems relate to the three dimensions of resilience. Different levels of resilience were found and discussed for intensive and extensive farms. The findings suggest that intensive farms benefit from high standards and greater bargaining power within the supply chain. Extensive systems can achieve profitability through value-added strategies and generally display good resilience. Policies that support investment and risk reduction are essential for enhancing farm resilience and robustness, while strengthening farmer networks can improve adaptability.

Keywords: sustainability; extensification; entrepreneurship; profitability; human capital; adaptive capacity; risk management; cooperation; value-added strategies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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