Toward autonomous integrated crop-livestock systems: What can we learn from biodynamic farming?
Résumé
Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) are promising for agroecology but they have been decreasing in the last decades. Biodynamic farming (BF) is a form of organic agriculture, based on the premise that each farm should aim to become an autonomous ICLS. To understand BF farmers’ experiences, 23 semi-structured interviews were conducted in France, in three types of systems: diversified crop-livestock; “wine and livestock” farms; specialized wine production. In addition to common motivations (i.e. decreasing external expenses) and constrains (heavy workload) which can be found in every farming systems, some specific emphases appear in BF farmers’ discourses. Particularly, questions of meaning are essential, as BF is also a way of living “a simple and happy life”. Importantly for farmers, animals are a major source of well-being, and the “atmosphere” they convey is a motivation for itself. In the transitions toward ICLS, specific BF preparations and the moon calendar play an important role, as other more or less common tools, such as animal communication. These tools could inspire innovative solutions and surprising pathways toward ICLS, such as the development of on-farm slaughter. More generally, the strategic role that BF might play in future sustainability transitions opens to stimulating new research questions and perspectives.