Abstract
Grass based ruminant production provides multiple beneets to farmers and to wider society. is paper addresses key economic and social factors of grass based ruminant production and illustrates them with national and regional examples from diierent parts of Europe. Farmers are key actors when it comes to maintaining and improving grass based production systems since they decide on the day-today management of the farm. e traditional farm economy model is a model where the income of farmers is a function of the price of the animal products sold, subsidies/direct payments and the associated costs of production. e multiple beneets of grass based production systems to society lead to promising new business models, where farmers are nancially rewarded for their added value contributions. is is already put into practise as several societal initiatives have been started, to support rewards for ecosystem services delivered. When developing stimulating initiatives, the mind-set of the farmer should be taken into account, since this is an important inuencing factor. Special attention should be paid to young farmers since they represent the next generation of farming.