Crop-livestock regions: in-between competition with cash crops and opportunities

Abstract

Integrating crops and livestock could limit the environmental and economic impact of specialized agriculture. Still, integrated croplivestock farms are disappearing over the European Union, due to a lack of workforce and few political incentives. This article aims at highlighting that cash crops and livestock are more often entering into competition than being sources of synergies in territories in which they coexist. We analyzed the diversity of service bundles provided by crop-livestock farming in three French territories combining cash crops and livestock. Our transversal analysis allowed us to suggest levers for an agroecological transition based on a real integration between cash crops and livestock at the farm and beyond the farm level. First of all, the animal stocking rate should be adapted as regards the potential of the agricultural area. Combining crops and livestock favors the autonomy in inputs through two main technical levers: diversification of crop rotations and organic fertilization of crops and grasslands through animal waste. Integrating agroforestry and conservation agriculture into crop-livestock systems could favor win-win strategies. At the local level, exchanges between specialized crops and livestock farmers could be of interest. Specific organizational and political levers should be explored to favor crop-livestock integration at the farm and local level.