Description of the Business As Usual (BAU)
The “Business As Usual” land use is conventional permanent cropping, such as olive groves, vineyards, or fruit orchards. In these systems, the inter-row space is typically managed as bare soil through tillage or herbicide application to eliminate competition for water and nutrients. This results in low biodiversity, a high risk of soil erosion, and a lack of integrated animal-based nutrient cycling.
Description of the system change
Orchard grazing involves the integration of livestock, such as sheep, poultry, or pigs, into permanent crop systems. This transitions a monoculture into a silvopastoral system where livestock graze spontaneous or sown groundcover (e.g., legumes or grasses), providing natural weed control and fertilisation through manure deposition. This practice reduces the need for mechanical mowing and herbicides, improves soil structure through trampling and aeration, and provides secondary income from products such as meat, eggs, or wool. Management includes rotational grazing with fencing and timing adjustments to avoid tree damage, while monitoring for overgrazing. Compared to BAU, silvopasture lowers erosion, boosts soil biology, and accumulates additional carbon in trees. It covers bare soil with green biomass, reducing erosion. Small breeds of sheep (e.g. Southdown, Shropshire/Danish, Ouessant, Shetland, Soay, Miniature Dorper), are often used in vineyards and orchards to minimise grazing damage to the trees.