The complex interactions between people, domestic animals and the environment
have led to animals being assigned different roles in different regions of the
world, in pastoral, semipastoral and commercial farming societies. These roles
depend on the value system of the society and on its attitude to risks. There
are many sources of risk in animal production systems, including environmental
risks, wars, civil unrest and the economic risks associated with high inputs,
and these will be perceived differently according to the society: high inputs,
for instance, tend to decrease risk in intensive farming, but increase it in
pastoral systems. While monetary returns are the driving force in a free-market
economy, biological survival and established cultural tradition may define the
essential values of a peasant community. In view of these differences an
alternative research paradigm, relevant to the needs of traditional production
systems and based on risk-spreading criteria, is presented here for
consideration by animal scientists.
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