HHT5MC2E

6636

21 mars 2023 14:31

21 mars 2023 14:35

Mixed farming systems are gaining interest both as a risk management strategy and to apply agroecological principles. This study set out to assess the sustainability of mixed systems compared to their specialized counterparts. The Orfee bioeconomic farm model was used to simulate three mixed farms: beef and dairy, beef and sheep, and cash crop and beef, under 1990–2017 prices and policies in France. Several sustainability criteria were computed at two scales (i) aggregated farm level, to assess whether mixed farms with several integrated enterprises performed better than if these enterprises were managed in specialized farms, and (ii) unit of product or labour to assess whether a product was produced more sustainably and a worker obtained higher and more stable income in a mixed farm. We found that mixed farms had less work peaks, lower global warming potentials and nitrogen balances, lower total production costs, higher and more stable net incomes than if their enterprises were managed in two specialized farms. However, profitability and income variability of the mixed farms were not better than the best performing specialized farm. The consumption of concentrate feed decreased in the mixed livestock farms but increased in the beefcrop farm that degraded feed-food competition.

None

• orfee
• agroecology
• bioeconomic model
• livestock
• mixed farming system
• multi species

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

17

2021

1 janvier 2021

10.1080/14735903.2021.1932150 Le DOI est une URL unique de référencement d'une publication. Il est donc plus fiable et permanent qu'une URL classique