STRATEGIES FOR MARGINAL LANDS MANAGEMENT IN RAIN-FED AGRICULTURAL FARM IN SPAIN: ECONOMIC AND ENERGY ANALYSES

摘要

The profitability of traditional agricultural production under rain-fed conditions is being dramaticallyrndecreasing in Spain, which is connected to the low productivity and the costs increase of raw materials. To thesernfactors it can be added that the lower production areas are usually more affected by climate change conditions. Inrnconjunction, soil carbon depletion is also a well-known fact in very extends agricultural country areas, which posesrnenvironmental problems, particularly in abandoned and lower productive lands. In that context, the number of mixedrnfarms that combine agricultural and extensive livestock systems simultaneously has dramatically been reduced, tornabout half, in the period 1999 to 2013. Additionally, the new CAP requires more restrictive environmental and croprndiversification measures. In this context, objective of this work is to comparatively study the impacts that thernimplementation of different alternatives, including the introduction of tall wheatgrass for biomass production, in thernmarginal area of a rain-fed cereal farm in Central-northern Spain may have on the economy, energy balance andrnenergy efficiency of the farm production system. The results achieved show the interest the introduction ofrnherbaceous perennial crops may have to increase the resilience of farms production systems in low productive EU agricultural areas.