Sheep, Slow Food, and Competition in Tuscany

The Tuscan Hillside

Much too early on Tuesday morning, we found ourselves on a chartered bus travelling from Firenze to Roma – with a rather large detour to the northern tip of Tuscany. As our guide Alessio explained to us, we were visiting a sheep farm in a mountain village to learn about the niche market this specific breed of sheep has carved out in Italy’s finest restaurants.

To assist in our journey, we stopped in Pisa to pick of professor Berti, a teacher of economics at the University of Pisa and an expert on this type of “new-rural” development, called as such because many of the farmers are returning to the land of their parents or grandparents, who had moved from that land to the city in search of better work. Because of Italy’s hilly terrain, much of the countryside had been long cultivated, with terraces for vineyards, chestnut trees, and the like. When the people of this land abandoned it, erosion quickly followed, manifested so tragically in the recent floods in the Cinque Terre region of northwest Italy, thought to be the results of such erosion. As summarized by professor Berti, “if you don’t go to the mountains, the mountains come to you.” Over our five-course, hours-long lunch, professor Berti discussed the difference between environmentalism in the US and in Italy. While the US keeps a “museum-like” approach to nature, Italians recognize that they are part of nature. The difference makes sense, with Italy’s thousands of years of culture kind of beating the few hundred years of (Western) American culture, but it was interesting to hear the Italian perspective on such a prominent topic.

They were delicious.

Upon arrival at the sheep farm in Zeri, Tuscany, we heard the story of the proprietor, Cinzia, who had returned to the land after her grandparents had abandoned it years ago. What made this land so special was the presence of a specific type of sheep, which was herded by only a handful of farmers in the northern Tuscan hills, and was on the verge of extinction in the late nineties. This sheep was highly prized for its taste, which was thought to be the result of eating chestnut leaves, which only grow at higher altitudes. After bringing her sheep to a fair in 2005, she attracted the attention of restaurateurs, who wished to purchase her meat – though she could not meet demand, especially when the handful of other sheep farmers didn’t exchange information with her. In response to this market opportunity, she formed a local consortium of these sheep farmers, who have a combined flock of only 3,000 or so sheep, and produce enough lamb meat to supply the niche market of several upscale Italian restaurants. This fits perfectly into game theory – there would be no incentive for a single farmer to create a market for the sheep when they would be facing stiff competition from their fellow farmers, who didn’t put in the work to promote the product but would benefit from the sheep being considered a luxury good. By forming a cooperative organization, the farmers all benefit, and thus are all incentivized to work together, and promote their sheep together as a luxury good. Fun Fact: at the Spanish Steps today, we saw the first McDonald’s ever opened in Rome. The protests against this fast food eventually led to the creation of the international “slow food” movement, of which Cinzia’s consortium is a part of.

Tomorrow we’re visiting Saint Peter’s…I’m sure there will be a plethora of blog posts about it.