Crop-herbivore livestock integration systems as the basis for an agriculture both productive and sustainable

Abstract

The necessity of crop-livestock integration has been questioned since 1950s by increasing mechanization power, fertilizer and pesticide use and by the huge simplification of agriculture production, transformation and food distribution systems. Farms became more specialized: separation of cropping from livestock production, crop rotation simplification and mono-cultures, leading then to homogeneity of landscapes. Such a hyperspecialisation at territory level leads nowadays to unacceptable environmental impacts. It is then necessary to restore an equilibrium between cropping and livestock system at local scale. The resulting diversification of cropping rotations should allow the decrease in pressure of weeds and plant diseases and insects, leading to a decrease in pesticide use, and the increase in mineral nutrient recycling and a corresponding reduction of external fertilizer use.