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Poster De Conférence Année : 2013

Determinants of crop rotation choices by pig farmers in Britany

Résumé

Pig farms in Brittany have on average 65 ha of cultivated area (UAA), which is far from the image of battery farming commonly accepted. There is very little data on how pig farmers use this area and moreover on the links between crop rotations and production system. The aim of this study is to review the diversity of crop rotations of pig farms and to identify factors influencing their choice. A survey was carried out in 28 swine farms in Brittany. The farms were chosen to represent a diversity of environmental situations and production systems. The survey sample is heterogeneous in size (number of animals and UAA), in effluent management and in existence of a feed production plan on farm (FPP). Content analysis of survey data shows that the determinants of crop rotation are associated with several structural criteria (the farm feed supply, effluent management, plot pattern), but also with economic, agronomical and workforce characteristics. The principal component analysis with hierarchical clustering brings out three types of crop rotation: (Gr1) a crop rotation mainly composed of wheat and maize (80% of the UAA), found in specialized farms with FPP, (Gr2) a more diverse crop rotation with mainly forage crops which is mainly found in mixed herds of cattle and pigs, (Gr3) a rotation with a greater presence of oilseed rape and a variety of grains but less maize. The latter type of crop rotation is found on specialized pig farms without FPP. Our study therefore highlights a limited range of crop rotation which are mainly explained by the farm structure (presence of cattle, FPP and to a lesser extent the plot pattern) and regulatory constraints on the management of livestock manure. We did not found a relation with the farm size (UAA and number of animals) which can be explain by a generalized over capacity production in the sample (most of the farms should have at least twice their UAA to be able to feed their herd). Our results suggest the interest of further discussion of the evolution of land use in areas with a high density of pig production, especially concerning an self-sufficiency orientation.
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Dates et versions

hal-01210070 , version 1 (03-06-2020)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-01210070 , version 1
  • PRODINRA : 221067

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Gilles Martel, Elodie Tersiguel, Jean-Luc Giteau, Yannick Ramonet. Determinants of crop rotation choices by pig farmers in Britany. 64. Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), Aug 2013, Nantes, France. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, pp.664, 2013, Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production. ⟨hal-01210070⟩
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