CONTEXT

Transitions to more sustainable livestock production systems are increasingly demanded by parts of society. Scientists suggest moving towards diversified farming systems due to their potential environmental and economic benefits, especially in the organic sector. However, empirical knowledge of multi-species livestock farms, i.e. farms keeping two or more animal species, is lacking.

OBJECTIVE

Our objectives were to identify European organic multi-species livestock farms that outperform their peers despite having the same resources and constraints, and characterize their distinctive management principles.

METHODS

We conducted surveys on 102 farms in seven European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. We restricted the analysis to a sub-sample of 75 farms that had complete data and that covered 3 main livestock combinations (cattle and sheep, cattle and pigs, cattle and poultry) with similar number of farms. We implemented a positive deviant approach based on three indicators: land productivity, nitrogen input dependence and satisfaction regarding income.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Five structurally diverse positive deviant farms were identified with 4 types of livestock combinations represented, and farmland area ranging from 25 to 273 ha, herd size from 33 to 146 livestock units (LU) and total workforce size from 1 to 24 annual worker units (AWU). These farms were located on a trade-off between land productivity and autonomy for feed, and all but one had high overall autonomy for feed (89–100% against a mean of 76% for the whole sample). Their diversity of pastures, crops and livestock species and their diversification beyond agricultural production were controlled (e.g. no agritourism) and below that of the other sample farms, to remain manageable by the farmers while still allowing to buffer shocks and hazards. Interactions among farm enterprises remained limited to matter (mainly grain, straw, hay, manure) flows, and practices requiring specific efforts and investments (e.g. for fencing), such as co-grazing of different livestock and crop residues grazing, were avoided.

SIGNIFICANCE

We conducted the first integrated study on European organic multi-species livestock farms and identified key management principles implemented on positive deviant farms. We showed that whatever their size, farms outperforming their peers do not necessarily maximize diversity of agricultural productions and of non-agricultural activities, and interactions among farm enterprises but that they remain at a level of complexity manageable by the farmers. These principles will inform farmers running multi-species livestock farms or transitioning to this model.

中文翻译：

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欧洲有机多品种畜牧场实施的积极偏差策略

语境

社会各部分越来越要求向更可持续的畜牧生产系统过渡。科学家们建议转向多样化的农业系统，因为它们具有潜在的环境和经济效益，尤其是在有机领域。然而，缺乏多品种牲畜农场的经验知识，即饲养两种或多种动物的农场。

客观的

我们的目标是确定尽管资源和限制相同但表现优于同行的欧洲有机多品种畜牧场，并描述其独特的管理原则。

方法

我们对七个欧洲国家的 102 个农场进行了调查：奥地利、比利时、法国、德国、意大利、瑞典和瑞士。我们将分析限制在 75 个农场的子样本中，这些农场拥有完整的数据，涵盖了农场数量相似的 3 种主要牲畜组合（牛和羊、牛和猪、牛和家禽）。我们实施了基于三个指标的积极偏差方法：土地生产力、氮投入依赖和收入满意度。

结果和结论

确定了五个结构多样的正偏差农场，代表 4 种牲畜组合，农田面积从 25 到 273 公顷不等，畜群规模从 33 到 146 个牲畜单位 (LU)，总劳动力规模从 1 到 24 个年度工人单位 (AWU ）。这些农场在土地生产力和饲料自主权之间进行权衡，除了一个以外，所有农场都具有较高的饲料自主权（89-100%，而整个样本的平均值为 76%）。他们的牧场、作物和牲畜物种的多样性以及农业生产之外的多样化受到控制（例如没有农业旅游），低于其他样本农场，以保持农民可以管理，同时仍然可以缓冲冲击和危害。农场企业之间的互动仍然仅限于物质（主要是谷物、稻草、干草、粪肥）流动，

意义

我们对欧洲有机多品种牲畜农场进行了第一次综合研究，并确定了在积极异常农场实施的关键管理原则。我们表明，无论规模大小，优于同行的农场并不一定能最大限度地提高农业生产和非农业活动的多样性以及农场企业之间的互动，但它们仍处于农民可以管理的复杂程度。这些原则将为经营多品种牲畜农场或过渡到这种模式的农民提供信息。