Does integration promote sustainability in organic multi-species livestock farms
Résumé
Implementing agrobiodiversity is a core principle of agro-ecology and organic farming. It is often observed through the lens of crop-livestock integration. However, keeping two or more livestock species or breeds simultaneously on the same farm is a diversification option that has received little attention to date as an option for improving livestock farm sustainability. Here, we present a pan-European analysis of organic multi-species livestock farms to identify most sustainable management strategies. After characterising the sample of 95 farms combining two or more livestock species (cattle or small ruminants, for meat or milk, pig or poultry), we undertook a partial least square regression analysis to relate sustainability indicators (productivity, efficiency, human welfare) with indicators reflecting farm structures and management, including the type of marketing and the level of integration among farm enterprises. We show that unlike expectations, the most sustainable farms do not necessarily exhibit the highest levels of integration. We also elaborate on the methodological advances needed for an analysis covering various types of species and productions at the scale of farming system scale. This work is being finalized and has been carried out in the European project MIX-ENABLE provided by transnational funding bodies, being partners of the H2020 ERA net project, CORE Organic Cofund, and the cofund from the European Commission.
Domaines
Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)