Economical grassland farming systems: another choice as opposed to intensive systems in Brittany

摘要

From the nineties onwards, a team of Breton farmers, led by A. Pochon, has been studying ways of limiting the polluting potential of their production systems. The result was to devise grassland farming systems with low inputs, which have been monitored and analysed for 5 years by INRA. An overall synthesis of these observations is presented here. The desire to improve the self-sufficiency and the sustainability of the farms resulted -with a relative diversity- in an increased acreage of grasslands(80 percent mixed swards) and grazed pastures, and in smaller place given to maize, to nitrogen fertilization, and to supplementary feeding ; the productivity of animals decreased by 15 percent, that of areas by 25 percent, and the stocking rates by 14 percent. Thanks to lower feed costs and lower inputs, the gross margins were improved by 15-20 percent. The environmental risks have been markedly reduced ; the beet acreage is able to fix the nitrogen released by the ploughing-in of the pastures. Duringthis process of change, the farmers acquired the know-how required for herd management, pasture management, and pasture fertilization. The new systems are undoubtedly more sustainable, and challenge the research workers, inviting them to consider more global approaches.