Research in organic livestock husbandry : stakes, acquisitions and developments

Abstract

Animal husbandry is a potentially important contributor to the objectives of organic food and farming (OF&F) development as announcedin France. The model of mixed crop-livestock farming is at the basis of OF&F and has shown to be robust. Yet, today, various animalproduction systems are found and OF&F has to adapt to new requirements in terms of performance, owing to the changes in rules andregulations or the market situation. Four research topics were identified and developed : i) designing more autonomous and economicallyefficient livestock production systems in terms of input by combining experimentation and on-farm monitoring; ii) evaluating the healthstatus of the herds and alternative therapeutic tools, conforming to the regulations in terms of health and animal welfare; iii) improvingthe mastering of nutritional, sensorial and health qualities of the animal products; iv) reinforcing the interactions between organic animalhusbandry and environment by favouring the impacts on biodiversity and on green-house gas emissions as well as energy consumedand fertility transfers in or between production units. The methodological teachings of research projects are given in a final part, while distinguishing between performance assessment and contribution to OF&F development.