2023/10/20 by Sonia Ramonteu, Ramonteu, Sonia, Isabelle Avelange +3
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Agricultural Systems and Practices
paper · doi:10.17180/zqqe-4r37
The analysis of French R&D collaborative projects on topics related to mixed farming run over the last 15 years shows how the issues were addressed collectively. We established an overview of the addressed topics, the partnerships, and then focused on some results about the mixed farming systems, from answers received from a brief questionnaire sent to projects coordinators in order to complement the information provided in the proposal or final summary sheets. No call for proposals have targeted the study of mixed farming systems as such, but different perspectives have addressed various aspects of this issue. We broadly gathered these projects according to the following themes: - Optimization of the livestock feeding (from local or national supply, to the search for autonomy at the farm level); - Role of meadows / grasslands on farms; - Organic fertilization of crops: agronomic value of manure; - Control of the environmental impacts of livestock production systems (modeling the farm management and operation) - Assessment of the sustainability of livestock production systems; - Diagnosis of practices, with varying perspectives (landscape areas or specific productions, observatories, multifunctionality, flexibility and security ...). Complementarities between livestock and crop production are often seen at the livestock unit or the farm scale at best, but rarely at territory scale. Studies generally have a biotechnical and rarely sociological perspective. Among key results, one can note the development of a tool for feed formulation taking into account the livestock feed production on farm. Impacts of mixed farming systems to soil dynamics, paradox between real benefits and actual disappearance of these systems, and also long-term feasibility and conditions of ecological intensification of mixed farming systems at territory scale are topics to be further studied.