Évaluation de l’intégration des élevages en polyculture-polyélevage en agriculture biologique

Face aux enjeux de la transition agricole et écologique, l’agriculture biologique appréciée des consommateurs, peut être une solution pour rendre les fermes plus durables. Malgré ses avantages, elle présente cependant des limites qui peuvent être comblées par une diversification du système au niveau du sol et du troupeau. Dans ce dernier cas cela passe par la mise en place d’un second atelier d’élevage. Ainsi, ces systèmes sont qualifiés d’exploitations de polyculture-polyélevage et présentent d’autres avantages théoriques qui dépendent de l’intensité et de la fréquence des interactions entre les composantes de la ferme (cultures, prairies et ateliers d’élevages) : c’est l’intégration. Ce stage s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet européen MIX-ENABLE, et a pour objectif d’identifier des profils d’intégration des exploitations de polyculture-polyélevage tout en appliquant la méthode exploratoire définie par ce projet. Cette dernière consiste à calculer, pour les fermes françaises enquêtées dans le cadre du projet, des indicateurs évaluant l’intégration. Pour cela, une analyse multivariée et une classification des fermes a été réalisée. Ces analyses statistiques mettent en évidence 8 indicateurs permettant de qualifier l’intégration de ces fermes. Ils traduisent les pratiques au sein de la ferme, la gestion des ventes et l’organisation du travail. Étant donné le manque de connaissances criant sur ces systèmes, cette étude pose les bases des futurs axes de recherches, tant dans ses résultats que dans sa méthodologie

Potential of multi-species livestock farming to improve the sustainability of livestock farms: A review.

Diversified farming systems are proposed as a major mechanism to address the many sustainability issues of today's agriculture. Multi-species livestock farming, i.e. keeping two or more animal species simultaneously on the same farm, is an option that has received little attention to date. Moreover, most studies of multi-species livestock farming are limited, usually focusing on selected dimensions of farm sustainability and addressing lower organizational levels (i.e. within the farm) and rather limited time horizons (e.g. a few weeks in a grazing season). Thus, a comprehensive assessment of multi-species livestock farming in terms of farm sustainability is lacking. In this context, we outline and discuss potential benefits and limitations of multi-species livestock farming for livestock farm sustainability from existing literature and list issues on multi-species livestock farming requiring further research. We show that multi-species livestock farming has the potential to improve the three dimensions of sustainability reviewed - economic viability for farmers, environmental soundness and social acceptability by being respectful of animals and humans - as long as locally relevant farming practices are implemented, especially an appropriate stocking rate during grazing. If relevant practices are not observed, multi-species livestock farming may produce undesirable effects, such as competition for resource acquisition during grazing, parasitic cross-infection and more intense work peaks. Therefore, we identify four focal research areas for multi-species livestock farming. First, characterizing the management of multi-species livestock farms. To do this, we suggest considering the integration of production enterprises (e.g. cattle and sheep enterprises) within the farm from three perspectives: farming practices (e.g. grazing management), work organization and sales. Second, exploring the complementarity of livestock species on multi-species livestock farms. This is especially true for species combinations that have been largely ignored (e.g. ruminants and monogastrics), even though they may have potential due to complementary diet compositions and resource-acquisition strategies. Third, assessing the sustainability of multi-species livestock farm scenarios (current or alternative) according to the management practices and production conditions, which requires adapting existing methods/models or developing new ones. Fourth, characterizing conditions for success and obstacles for multi-species livestock farming along the value chain from production to consumption, considering stakeholders' objectives, work habits and constraints. Increasing understanding should help prioritize actions and organize them to scale up multi-species livestock farming

A toolkit to assess the sustainability and robustness of mixed livestock farms

A set of indicators to assess sustainbility and robusteness of organic mixed livestock farm

HRTEM, TSC and broadband dielectric spectroscopy of a discotic liquid crystal

Due to its molecular configuration, Pyrene 1,3,6,8-tetracarboxylic rac-2-ethyl hexyl ester exhibits a mesomorphic phase at room temperature. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) of samples with various thermal history yield important results on discotic liquid crystal nanostructure. The evolution of the molecular organisation with the temperature has been determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The physical structure of this columnar liquid crystal is shown by dynamic dielectric spectroscopy (DDS) along a broad temperature and frequency range. As this liquid crystal is used as film electronic devices, the thermostimulatedmicro-technique (m-TSC) has been improved and developed. The behavior and molecular mobility in this columnar liquid crystal are studied. The correlation with thermal studies allows us to understand dielectric properties as a function of physical state

Multi-species livestock farming systems: a review

Diversification of farming systems has been proposed as a major mechanism to address the many sustainability issues of modern industrial agriculture. Keeping two or more animal species or breeds (e.g. dairy cattle and beef cattle) simultaneously on the same farm is a diversification option that has received little attention to date. Moreover, most studies of multi-species livestock farming are partial, focus on specific dimensions of farm sustainability and address lower organizational levels, (i.e. within the farm). Thus, holistic assessment of potential benefits of multi-species livestock farming for farm sustainability is lacking. In this context, we synthesized potential benefits and limitations of multi-species livestock farming for farm sustainability from existing literature and listed research challenges related to it. We showed that multi-species livestock farming has the potential to improve the five dimensions of farm sustainability reviewed - resource-use efficiency and conservation, animal health and welfare, productivity, profitability and human welfare - as long as locally relevant farming practices are used, especially an appropriate stocking rate during grazing. If not, multi-species livestock farming may produce counter effects, such as competition during grazing, parasitic cross-infection and more intense work peaks. To further the spread of multi-species livestock farming, we identify four research challenges. One, characterize better the management of mixed-species livestock farms. To do this, we developed an analytical framework considering the integration of production enterprises within the farm from three perspectives: farming practices (i.e. co-management vs. segregated management), work organization (i.e. versatile vs. specialized workers across enterprises) and sales management (i.e. similar vs. segregated sales channels among enterprises). Two, explore further the complementarity of livestock species on multi-species livestock farms. This is especially true for species combinations that have been largely ignored (e.g. ruminants and monogastrics), even though they may have potential due to complementary diet compositions and resource-acquisition strategies. Three, assess better the sustainability of multi-species livestock farm scenarios (current or alternative) according to the management practices used and production conditions, which requires adapting existing methods/models or developing new ones. Four, characterize conditions for success of and obstacles to multi-species livestock farming along the value chain from production to consumption, considering stakeholders’ objectives, work habits and constraints. Increasing understanding should help prioritize actions and organize them into pathways toward diversification of livestock farms

A typology of European organic multi-species livestock farms

Keeping two or more livestock species or categories on the same farm simultaneously is a diversification option that has received little attention to date. We surveyed 95 organic multi-species livestock farms across six European countries to build a farm typology and characterise their diversity in structure, management, and performances. Farms combined cattle (meat, milk), small ruminants (meat, milk) and/or monogastrics. Survey data on the structure, management, and performances allowed for the creation of indicators (including farmer’s satisfaction) used to run a principal component analysis and an agglomerative hierarchical clustering to build the farm typology. The following variables structured the first four factors of the PCA: F1: Farm size and crop-pasture balance; F2: Intensification - Feed self-sufficiency; F3: Work productivity - Diversification activities and marketing; F4: Dairy cattle and permanent pasture. Four groups of farms emerged from the clustering: G1: Large area with a high share of crops, low feed autonomy, dairy cattle with beef cattle or pigs, on-farm processing, short sale channels and agritourism; G2: Prevalence of poultry with beef cattle, leading to high labour productivity and low feed autonomy, although ruminant diets highly rely (90%) on fodder; G3: Beef cattle associated with meat sheep, high feed autonomy, frequent short sale channels; G4: Italian farms with predominantly dairy ewes and dairy or meat cattle, rangelands, on-farm processing and short sale channels. Our next objective is to study the relationships between agricultural practices, work organisation, sales management and farm performances

Mise au point de nouveaux materiaux permettant la realisation de fibres optiques fluorescentes utilisables pour la detection de decharges partielles dans le materiel electrique

Available from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : AR 15827 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueSIGLEMinistere de la Recherche et de la Technologie (MRT), 75 - Paris (France)FRFranc

Survey Data on European Organic Multi-Species Livestock Farms

While there is increasing evidence of the sustainability benefits of diversified systems in the organic cropping sector, this has been much less investigated with organic livestock farming. To fill this knowledge gap, we surveyed a sample of 128 European organic multi-species livestock farms located across seven countries – Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland – and covering a large range of livestock species combinations. We recorded 1574 variables as raw data out of which we calculated 107 indicators describing farm structure, management and several sustainability dimensions: resource use efficiency and conservation, animal, land and work productivities, animal and human welfare. After technical validation of the data, we withdrew 26 farms and the database covers 102 farms. This database is well suited to unveil relationships between various dimensions of organic multi-species livestock farm sustainability and their structure and management. It can help reveal sustainable strategies for organic multi-species livestock farming systems and understand levers or barriers to their development