Friday, January 19, 2018

Herder's and common property evolution

Staying in Fontecchio, Italy has revealed to me why Alessio Di Giulio, our dear friend and tour guide, loves the Abruzzo region. Before we set out on our daily adventure, Alessio told us about the transhumance paths that we were going to see and walk on that day. Transhumance is the practice of moving livestock from one grazing ground to another in a seasonal cycle, typically to lowlands in winter to take advantage of grasses growing in the cooler, wetter climate and highlands in summer to avoid the droughts in the lowlands, to graze the herds on grasses growing as a result of melting snow, and to allow the grasses in the lowlands to recover.
Alessio told us that the use of the transhumance paths has been slowly dying out. He said that ancient people established the paths and practice. The paths became such an important part of the economy that, during the Roman era, the paths were regulated and protected.  This idea of recognizing and protecting these pathways was an early example of common property regimes (CPR’s)Transhumance goes hand in hand with the need to establish CPRs because the existence of the 250-km path relied on CPRs. Common property was created by “the State for the balance of power in ensuring mutualism and cooperation in land use between peasants and nomads, particularly” (Herders and common property in evolution: an example from central Italy, Forni, 47).  This common property was crucial for herders’ sheep to get key nutrients by moving them along the transhumance path down from the highlands in October and then up the path in June when they left the low plains. The sheep herder’s tradition of traveling via the transhumance path has decreased rapidly since the late 1900’s. This tradition that has existed for thousands of years has been replaced by a method that maximizes profit for the individual.
Our adventure for the day allowed us to walk a small part of these ancient paths in the Abruzzo region and Rocca Classico. These paths are shown below.  During the visit to Rocco Classico we saw a sheep herd in the highlands that no longer participates in the tradition of the transhumance paths. This prompted me to ask the class, why they think farmers have moved away from using the traditional transhumance paths? One answer was in order to maximize profit for individuals.  So, instead of having a whole community working for one sheep herd, one family or an individual owns and cares for the herd.   This could have been done as agricultural technologies improved, such as use of fertilizers, making it so that the sheep can have food year-round in one area. The Abruzzo region, from what we saw today and what I and my classmates hypothesized, is that the region is moving away from traditional transcendence paths precisely because of technological improvements.

Our adventure for the day with our tour guide and dear friend Alessio was eye opening because of the connections I was able to make with the article I read. We were able to see the transhumance paths and could imagine how they were used and why the idea and formation of common property was imperative to the paths and the lifestyle that they supported. During our visit to the sheep farm, we also were able to see, first hand, how technology has changed sheep farming and what it means to be a modern shepherd and why these modern shepherds have moved away from using the ancient transhumance paths. In sum Fontecchio, Italy has been one of the best learning experiences I have had so far.

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