Suchergebnisse

Legumes, which currently show low production levels in the European Union, can reduce negative environmental externalities of agricultural systems by lowering nitrogen (N) fertilization and increasing protein self-sufficiency. This has led to the introduction of coupled support in France, in contrast to Germany. However, the German implementation of the Nitrates Directive is more favorable for legumes. Our study assesses economic and environmental impacts of these two policies affecting legume production. We employ the bio-economic model FarmDyn, representing French and German dairy farms. The results suggest that relatively lowlevels of coupled support can lead to modest increases in legume production, but that more substantial changes require considerable subsidies. Allowing the French farm to apply manure on legumes, as is already possible in Germany, fosters legume production while considerably reducing the use of synthetic N fertilizer and imported protein-rich feed. However, environmental benefits are limited.

International audience ; Legumes, which currently show low production levels in the European Union, can reduce negative environmental externalities of agricultural systems by lowering nitrogen (N) fertilization and increasing protein self-sufficiency. This has led to the introduction of coupled support in France, in contrast to Germany. However, the German implementation of the Nitrates Directive is more favorable for legumes. Our study assesses economic and environmental impacts of these two policies affecting legume production. We employ the bio-economic model FarmDyn, representing French and German dairy farms. The results suggest that relatively low levels of coupled support can lead to modest increases in legume production, but that more substantial changes require considerable subsidies. Allowing the French farm to apply manure on legumes, as is already possible in Germany, fosters legume production while considerably reducing the use of synthetic N fertilizer and imported protein-rich feed. However, environmental benefits are limited.

Legumes can limit the impact of agricultural systems on the environment by limiting N fertilization, diversifying crop rotation and substituting imported protein-rich feed. However, their production remains low in the European Union, which led to specific policies. France established Voluntary Coupled Support scheme for legumes. Germany did not introduce a coupled support, but provides more favorable implementation of the Nitrates Directive for legumes by allowing spreading manure on these crops. Our study assesses economic and environmental impacts of the coupled support and measures of the Nitrates Directive affecting legume production in France and Germany. We employ the bio-economic model FarmDyn, parameterized for a typical dairy farm in France and Germany. Legumes are introduced as cash crops and on-farm feed, highlighting interactions between crop and animal productions.Different levels of coupled support per hectare were analyzed and the French versus the German implementation of the Nitrates Directive were compared. Results suggest that voluntary coupled support leads to an increase in legume production but to a lesser extend in the German farm than in the French farm, due to higher opportunity costs of legumes. In both farms, the increase in legume production leads to limited environmental benefits: nitrogen leaching and global warming potential slightly decrease. In the French farm, the German implementation of the Nitrates Directive fosters legume production. Thus, this study shows that allowing manure spreading on legumes can help reaching high legume production in livestock farms. However, this further increase in legume production does not lead to environmental benefits. Thus, allowing manure spreading on legumes to increase their production should be justified by other goals such as improving the protein self-sufficiency of the farm.

Legumes can contribute to a more sustainable agriculture by limiting N fertilisation, diversifying crop rotation and substituting imported protein-rich feed. However, their production remains low in the European Union, which had led to specific policies. For instance, following the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, France established Voluntary Coupled Support (VCS) scheme for legumes. Germany did not introduce a VCS, but provides more favourable implementation of the Nitrates Directive (ND) for legumes by allowing spreading manure on these crops. Our study quantifies economic and environmental impacts of the VCS and measures of the ND affecting legume production in France and Germany. We employ the bio-economic model FarmDyn, parameterised for a typical dairy farm in France and Germany, to analyse different levels of VCS per hectare and to compare the French versus the German implementation of the ND. Results suggest that VCS leads to a significant increase in legume production. The implementation of the German ND can foster legume production due to the possibility of spreading manure on legumes. The policy induced increase in legume production is lower in the German farm due to higher opportunity costs of legumes. In both farms, the profit slightly increases but the share of VCS in the profit rises. Environmental indicators are overall improved. Thus, VCS, coupled with an adapted implementation of the Nitrate Directive, is an effective policy to foster environmental benefits from increased legume production. However, the effectiveness of these policies highly depends on the opportunity costs of legumes in each country.

In light of the ambitions of the European Union (EU) to achieve an ecological transition of its agricultural sector it is crucial to assess and continuously monitor (i) the uptake of main ecological approaches by farms and (ii) associated effects on farm performance, considering all sustainability dimensions (economic, environmental, social) jointly. Given these needs, in the present deliverable D5.1 of the LIFT project, we develop a novel indicator system, which combines the LIFT farm typology and farm performance data, covering all sustainability dimensions. The approach compares performance of farms in five ecological groups (referred to as ecological farming approaches or ecological farming systems) from the LIFT farm typology (Conservation Agriculture, Low-Input farming, Integrated/Circular farming, Organic farming, Agroecology) as well as possible combinations of these groups with a less ecological group, referred to as Standard farming. This allows us to depict whether ecological farms perform differently or have different trade-offs and synergies than standard farms. Based on this system, we carry out a farm sustainability performance assessment with the two main data sources in the LIFT project, namely Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data and data from the LIFT large-scale farmer survey, covering main farm types present in the European Union (EU) in several case study regions/countries. Additionally, we present in-depth analyses of further specific aspects, namely (i) the extension of the developed indicator framework to bio-economic models, (ii) the integration of the consumption and provision of ecosystem services into the developed indicator system through composite agri-environmental performance (AEP) indicators, derived from the body of secondary literature and region-specific stakeholder input, and (iii) working conditions and employment on farms in the context of an ecological transition. Overall, our results show the importance of considering trade-offs and synergies both within and between ...

This document presents the results of Task 3.2 (farm technical-economic performance) in workpackage (WP) 3 (farm performance of ecological agriculture) of the LIFT project. The overall aim of Task 3.2 is to assess and compare technical-economic farm performance across the European Union (EU) depending on the degree of ecological approaches adopted by farms and analyse drivers, affecting their performance. This requires an approach, which allows to consider regional specifics, while still allowing comparisons between different regions and countries. The deliverable thus consists of several academic papers, focussing on a range of different case studies, applying a wide range of methods, which can most generally be divided into empirical econometric approaches and bio-economic models. At the same time, all case studies follow a similar structure and include some common elements in terms of the applied methods, in particular a set of common indicators of technical-economic farm performance was implemented in several papers. Various approaches to differentiate farms according to the degree of ecological approaches adopted were explored, including the LIFT farm typology developed in WP1 and other strategies. Overall, our results show that the wide variety of farm types and biophysical, socio-economic and political framework conditions present in the EU matter: results of comparing technical-economic farm performance depending on the degree of ecological approaches adopted, as well as with respect to drivers of farm technical-economic performance, are heterogenous and vary between the different analyses. Therefore, this heterogeneity needs to be considered by policy makers and can most likely best be addressed by providing a policy framework, which provides the necessary flexibility to adjust measures to region-specific framework conditions in order to foster economic viability of farms in the context of an ecological transition of EU agriculture. Building on the results of this deliverable and the other deliverables ...