Assessing the total economic value of threatened livestock breeds in Italy: Implication for conservation policy

The total economic value (TEV) of two threatened Italian cattle breeds (Modicana and Maremmana) wasinvestigated using a choice experiment survey. Most respondents (85%) support breed conservation, theirstated willingness-to-pay easily justifying EU support. The high landscape maintenance, existence and futureoption values of both breeds (around 80% of their TEVs) suggest that incentives mechanisms are indeedneeded in order to allow farmers to capture some of these public good values and hence motivate them toundertake conservation-related activities. The positive direct use values of both breeds (around 20% oftheir TEVs) imply that niche product markets aimed at enhancing the private good values associated withconservation could also form elements of a conservation and use strategy for these breeds.