Poster De Conférence Année : 2024

Nitrogen flow network and energy performance in contrasted organic farms

Résumé

Organic farming practices have gained considerable attention due to their potential to mitigate environmental impacts and promote sustainable agriculture. Organic farming uses more diverse nutrient management practices than conventional agriculture. However, organic farming practices are not as well documented. Here, we investigated nitrogen (N) and energy flows in organic farming systems that had different fertilisation and feeding practices. We examined eight organic farming systems of three types – vegetable, mixed crop-livestock, and cereal – in Brittany, France. We estimated that the vegetable farms had the largest N inputs and thus the largest mean N balance. The Finn cycling index ranged from 0.4-0.5 for the mixed crop-livestock farms and was 0 for the other farms. Farm-gate N-use efficiency ranged from 20-70%. Direct energy investment ranged from 6-30 GJ·ha-1·yr-1, with mixed crop-livestock systems using the least energy. On average, 65% of the energy used by these organic farms was non-renewable. N self-sufficiency at the farm scale ranged from 41% for vegetable farms to 100% for mixed crop-livestock farms. Similarly, N self-sufficiency at the local scale ranged from 65% for vegetable farms to 100% for both cereal and mixed crop-livestock farms. The availability of local N manure and feed resources near a farm strongly influenced its overall N-flow network. Feedback from farmers confirmed that their decisions about N flows were often influenced more by factors such as animal welfare, land constraints, and farmer workload. These results indicate that diversifying farming systems to include both crop and livestock systems is a key factor in achieving N circularity on the farm. In addition, local factors beyond the farm strongly influence organic farms’ access to N resources; thus, local policies may be required to increase N availability.

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hal-04874542 , version 1 (08-01-2025)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04874542 , version 1

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Quentin Maurice Roger Bellanger, Fabrice Beline, Aurélie Wilfart, Fanny Vergely, Yann Evenat, et al.. Nitrogen flow network and energy performance in contrasted organic farms. N workshop 2024, Jun 2024, Aarhus (Danemark), Denmark. ⟨hal-04874542⟩
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