Farm diversification is increasingly suggested as a way to improve agriculture's productivity and sustainability. However, the role of livestock remains under-explored, particularly whether diversification of organic farms with multiple livestock species increases productivity. We assessed the livestock, land and labour productivity of 96 organic multi-species livestock farms in six European countries. We aggregated farm's production of commercialized crop and livestock products in a unit of agricultural production (kg of protein) and an economic unit (income in ). We then calculated agricultural productivity of each farm per unit of livestock (LSU), land (ha) and labour (AWU). We also calculated the livestock productivity (kg of protein per LSU) of each livestock enterprise (dairy cattle, beef cattle, meat sheep, dairy sheep, goats, poultry and pigs) on each farm. We found that most organic multi-species livestock farms are as productive as their specialised counterparts per unit of livestock, land and labour, with medians of 103.8 kg of protein/LSU, 91.2 kg of protein/ha and 2214.7 kg of protein/AWU, respectively. Farms that included a monogastric species had higher agricultural productivity than those that included ruminant species alone (i.e., cattle and sheep). The high variability among farms and livestock species requires nuancing the view of diversification as a silver-bullet strategy and exploring the factors that promote or hinder the success of livestock diversification to increase productivity. This study provides the first comparison of agricultural and economic productivity of organic multi-species commercial farms across six European countries and including seven livestock combinations.

Given the need for farms to reduce their negative environmental impacts while maintaining their productive performance, this study analyzes the technical and environmental efficiency of a sample of sheep farms in France, with a focus on greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen surplus. To do so, we use a multi-equation stochastic frontier approach that accounts for the physical processes that generate environmental pollution. The results indicate that, on average, the potential technical and environmental efficiency gains for the farms in our sample would be approximately 20

Few frameworks are currently available to assess the flows of ecosystem services (ESs) and disservices (EDSs) from and into livestock farming systems (LFSs). We estimated these flows using the Barn, a graphical tool designed to represent the integration of LFS into their surrounding landscapes. This tool uses bi-directional arrows to depict flows of multiple types of ES and EDS. Based on five contrasting lamb meat systems, we estimated that the flows of ES that support lamb meat production, such as the provision of forage and nitrogen fixation, were often associated with EDS, such as wolf predation or rodent outbreaks. These EDSs were particularly detrimental for the LFS that depended more on ES than on external inputs. We also observed that few operational indicators exist for quantifying EDS. The results show that deriving benefits from ecosystems implies interacting closely with the environment, which can generate disadvantages. This result also reveals a trade-off between ES and EDS, which has received little attention so far. This highlights the need to better assess and mitigate EDS, to prevent them from hindering the transition toward more sustainable practices that aim to reduce external inputs.

Reducing the negative environmental impact of production activities without (substantial) loss of production is a crucial challenge for the agricultural sector. Investigating farms' environmental and technical efficiency (TE) levels and drivers can contribute to addressing this issue. In this regard, based on recent theoretical developments on the appropriate handling of undesirable outputs in the modeling of production technologies, this paper introduces a multi-equation stochastic frontier framework for technical and environmental efficiency (EE) analysis. This framework is applied to a sample of French suckler sheep farms. The results indicate that, on average, farms in the sample can increase their desirable output by 20% without using more inputs while reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 24%. Findings also show that relatively high (low) levels of TE are associated with relatively low (high) levels of EE and that the likelihood for a farm to be both technically and environmentally efficient is relatively low. Only 32% of the farms in the sample have a high level of TE and EE. Drivers such as decoupled direct payments are positively associated with EE and negatively associated with TE, while no significant effect is found for green direct payments.

We calculate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption of two French beekeeping systems, one amateur system (Amat) and one professional system (Pro) with 300 hives. The GHG emissions reach 2.7 kgCO2eq/kg of honey for Amat and 1.49 for Pro. Travel to visit the apiaries accounted for 59% of the total GHG emissions for Amat and 28% for Pro, and sugar accounted for 21% and 41%, respectively. The energy consumption reached 37.4 MJ/kg for Amat and 19.9 MJ/kg for Pro; travel represented 65% of energy consumption for Amat and 34% for Pro, and sugar accounted for 15% and 32%, respectively. The sensitivity analysis revealed that the most important factor influencing GHG emissions was the bee mortality rate, followed by the distances covered by vehicles and the level of sugar use. The average energy consumption per kg of dry matter produced between Amat and Pro is close to that observed for French dairy cattle production. The GHG emissions are well below those of dairy production, by factors of 3.7 and 6.6 for Amat and Pro, respectively. Finally, we make the following recommendations to improve the environmental performance of beekeeping farms, in terms of GHG emissions and energy consumption, in the French context but a priori also in other contexts i) maintain efforts to identify and reduce causes of bee mortality; ii) limiting distances traveled and using low-energy, low-carbon vehicles; and iii) using well-insulated hives. We also provide the GHG emission and energy consumption factors for the artificial swarms purchased.

Les activités d’élevage sont fortement questionnées pour leurs impacts négatifs sur l’environnement, en particulier le changement climatique, et vis-à-vis de la compétition pour l’utilisation des surfaces agricoles. Depuis peu, elles sont en outre confrontées aux fortes tensions sur les ressources énergétiques. Nous montrons ici que, dans le contexte européen et français, le développement à grande échelle d’un élevage mettant en œuvre les principes de l’agriculture biologique, fortement inscrit dans la transition agroécologique, conduit à une reconception des systèmes agricoles et des régimes alimentaires. Face à l’augmentation du prix de l’énergie, nous montrons que les activités d’élevage vont perdre en compétitivité face à l’utilisation de surfaces arables dédiées à l’alimentation humaine ou à la production d’énergie. D’autre part, les produits animaux vont aussi devenir moins accessibles pour le consommateur qui voit son pouvoir d’achat baisser. Une issue pour l’élevage est de se recentrer sur l’utilisation de surfaces non cultivables et sur une large gamme de coproduits. Nous montrons que la mise en œuvre de pratiques d’élevage biologique est en totale cohérence avec ces enjeux. Une telle évolution renforcerait par ailleurs les services que les systèmes d’élevage peuvent rendre à la collectivité. Néanmoins, des freins à cette transition des systèmes de culture et d’élevage demeurent, notamment les stratégies et l’organisation actuelles des filières. Le rôle des politiques publiques est donc crucial pour anticiper une évolution qui semble inéluctable, et accompagner ces transitions.

Livestock farming activities are often questioned for their negative impact on the environment, including climate change, and competition for agricultural land. More recently, they have also had to cope with severe pressure on energy resources. Here, we show that, in the European and French context, a large-scale implementation of organic livestock farming, strongly involved in agroecological transition, has led to the reorganization of farming systems and diets. Faced with rising energy prices, we show that livestock farming activities will lose competitiveness in the face of the use of arable land for human consumption and energy production. In addition, animal products will become less accessible to consumers, whose purchasing power will decline. One way out for livestock farming is to refocus on the use of non-cultivable land and a wide range of by-products as feedstuff. We show that the implementation of organic farming practices is fully consistent with these challenges. Such a development also enhances the services that livestock production systems could provide to society. However, there are still major obstacles for the transition of crop and livestock systems, including current strategies and organization of the sector. The role of public policy is therefore crucial in anticipating the inevitable changes and supporting this transition.

In 2021, organic farming (OF) represented 10.3% of the French utilised agricultural area. This type of farming is regulated by European regulations and principles which, combined with a specific relationship with consumers, has led to the development of production systems that can be differentiated from conventional ones. The Agence Bio, the national coordination agency in charge of the development, promotion and structuring of French OF, manages a database which records all French operators certified in OF and which feeds the "National Observatory of Organic Farming" (ONAB). Thanks to this database, we were able to refine our knowledge of French farms that are both fully engaged in OF and have a livestock activity. After a general presentation allowing us to identify the main types of farms according to their level of livestock specialization and the type of associated crops, we analysed eight major production sectors: dairy and beef cattle, sheep for milk and meat, goats, laying hens, broilers and pig production. For each sector, we specify the geographical location of the farms while taking their size and livestock diversification level into account. This first analysis highlights the strong impact of the local presence of historical conventional livestock sectors that have developed an OF segment, with possible repercussions on the size of the units and on the level and type of diversification of the farms. These last elements might potentially interact with marketing channels, as short or long distribution channels.

L’agriculture biologique (AB) représentait 10,3 % de la surface agricole française en 2021. Ce mode de production est régi par un cahier des charges européen et des principes qui, combinés à une relation privilégiée aux consommateurs, conduisent à développer des systèmes de production se distinguant généralement de ceux de l’agriculture conventionnelle. L’Agence Bio, structure de coordination nationale en charge du développement, de la promotion et de la structuration de l’AB française, gère une base de données recensant tous les opérateurs français certifiés en AB et qui alimente l’observatoire national de l’agriculture biologique (ONAB). Grâce à cette base, nous avons pu affiner la connaissance des fermes françaises entièrement engagées en AB et ayant une activité d’élevage. Après une présentation globale permettant d’identifier des grands types de fermes en fonction de leur degré de spécialisation animale et du type de production végétale associée, nous analysons huit filières de production majeures : bovins et ovins lait et viande, caprins, poules pondeuses, poulets de chair et porcs. Pour chacune, nous précisons la localisation géographique des fermes tout en tenant compte de leur dimension et de leur gradient de diversification en élevage. Cette première analyse met en évidence la forte incidence de la présence locale de filières d’élevage conventionnelles historiques ayant développé un segment AB, avec a priori des répercussions sur la dimension des ateliers et sur le niveau et le type de diversification des élevages. Ces derniers éléments semblent ainsi être en interaction avec les modes de commercialisation, en particulier de type circuit court ou circuit long.

Reducing the negative environmental impact of production activities without (substantial) loss of production is a crucial challenge for the agricultural sector. Investigating farms' environmental and technical efficiency (TE) levels and drivers can contribute to addressing this issue. In this regard, based on recent theoretical developments on the appropriate handling of undesirable outputs in the modeling of production technologies, this paper introduces a multi-equation stochastic frontier framework for technical and environmental efficiency (EE) analysis. This framework is applied to a sample of French suckler sheep farms. The results indicate that, on average, farms in the sample can increase their desirable output by 20% without using more inputs while reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 24%. Findings also show that relatively high (low) levels of TE are associated with relatively low (high) levels of EE and that the likelihood for a farm to be both technically and environmentally efficient is relatively low. Only 32% of the farms in the sample have a high level of TE and EE. Drivers such as decoupled direct payments are positively associated with EE and negatively associated with TE, while no significant effect is found for green direct payments. La r & eacute;duction des impacts environnementaux n & eacute;gatifs des activit & eacute;s de production sans perte (substantielle) de production est un d & eacute;fi crucial pour le secteur agricole. L'& eacute;tude des niveaux et des facteurs d'efficience environnementale et technique des exploitations agricoles peut contribuer & agrave; r & eacute;soudre ce probl & egrave;me. & Agrave; cet & eacute;gard, sur la base de d & eacute;veloppements th & eacute;oriques r & eacute;cents concernant le traitement appropri & eacute; des outputs ind & eacute;sirables dans la mod & eacute;lisation des technologies de production, cet article introduit une approche de fronti & egrave;re stochastique multi-& eacute;quations pour l'analyse de l'efficience technique et environnementale. Ce cadre est appliqu & eacute; & agrave; un & eacute;chantillon d'exploitations fran & ccedil;aises d'& eacute;levage d'ovins allaitants. Les r & eacute;sultats indiquent qu'en moyenne, les exploitations de l'& eacute;chantillon peuvent augmenter leur production de viande de 20% sans utiliser davantage d'intrants, tout en r & eacute;duisant leurs & eacute;missions de gaz & agrave; effet de serre de 24%. Les r & eacute;sultats montrent & eacute;galement que des niveaux relativement & eacute;lev & eacute;s (faibles) d'efficience technique sont associ & eacute;s & agrave; des niveaux relativement faibles (& eacute;lev & eacute;s) d'efficience environnementale et que la probabilit & eacute; qu'une exploitation soit & agrave; la fois efficiente sur le plan technique et environnemental est relativement faible. Seulement 32% des exploitations de l'& eacute;chantillon ont un niveau & eacute;lev & eacute; d'efficience technique et environnementale. Des facteurs tels que les paiements directs d & eacute;coupl & eacute;s sont positivement associ & eacute;s & agrave; l'efficience environnementale et n & eacute;gativement associ & eacute;s & agrave; l'efficience technique, tandis qu'aucun effet significatif n'est constat & eacute; pour les paiements directs verts.

One of the key ways to improve the sustainability of agricultural systems is through diversification, taking advantage of synergies between farm enterprises. Among diversified systems, multispecies livestock farms with at least two animal enterprises have rarely been studied. We explored 95 organic farms from six countries, accounting for the proportion of animal enterprises, sales management, workforce size, and work organization. The study reveals various types of interactions between animal enterprises. Complementarities were observed between ruminant and monogastric enterprises, particularly fertilizer transfer from monogastric manure to grasslands. Milk production was often associated with on-farm processing and short distribution channels, which enhanced farm viability and reduced its dependency on herd productivity. Eleven out of the 95 farms combined above-average production efficiency, on-farm processing, and the majority of sales in short distribution channels. Their labor productivity converged toward 22 livestock units per annual work unit, regardless of the number of workers. Combining farm structure; livestock production efficiency; social elements, such as the workforce; and sales management led us to distinguish four types of farms: (i) small and very autonomous grassland farms with on-farm processing and short distribution channels; (ii) dairy farms associated with a high-density pig or poultry enterprise, whose feed purchase contributes to high rates of cattle feeding self-sufficiency and stocking rate; (iii) large farms with an extensive, grassland beef enterprise associated with either sheep or monogastrics; and (iv) dairy sheep associated with goat or beef cattle on rangelands, with high added-value products enhancing salaries. This study highlights for the first time the diversity of organic multispecies livestock farms and how consistent patterns of interactions among farm structure, livestock management, sales management, and workforce management shape them. The results are a preliminary basis for designing policy interventions aiming to scale up organic farming and value social assets of diversified and small farms.

Organic mixed livestock farming offers a range of potential benefits for the environment. Due to the diversification of enterprises, this farming system can be associated with a high workload, which means that it could be socially unsustainable. The aim of this study was to understand and explain work satisfaction of farmers running an organic mixed livestock farm. Using a mixed-method approach, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 102 farmers in seven European countries during face-to-face interviews. We showed for the first time that across Europe and different animal species and category combinations, organic mixed livestock farms can provide a high work satisfaction, despite a high workload. By using a mixed-method approach and a clear framework, we aimed at better understanding work satisfaction. Underlying reasons for work satisfaction included the diversity of tasks, opportunities to learn, autonomy in the work schedule, perceived acknowledgement by consumers, and the contribution to sustainable food production. Factors contributing to work satisfaction identified in the analysis of quantitative data included workload, number of livestock units, mental complexity, proportion of work peaks per year, and the match between wanted free time and time taken off work. The combination of qualitative and quantitative data allowed a deeper understanding of farmers’ work satisfaction and revealed consistent findings. Future research should investigate the relationship between farmers’ work satisfaction and capacity for innovation, flexibility, and adaptation potential.

One of the principles of agroecology is that the management of animal and plant diversity within livestock farms can enhance their sustainability. To go beyond this theoretical principle, we analyze the farm operation and performance of multi-species livestock farms, i.e. farms where at least two animal species are raised. In grassland-based systems, the complementarity of sheep, cattle and horse grazing behaviour reduces the use of feed concentrates, especially for sheep. Parasite dilution in mixed grazing systems benefits small ruminants and horses, and makes it possible to reduce the number of anthelmintic treatments. Adding a small monogastric enterprise to a beef or dairy system makes it possible to value farm co-products (whey...) ; milk processing is often associated with on-farm processing and opens up the possibility of short-distribution channels of diversified food baskets, which enhance farm viability. Work organization plays a key role in the way different species are integrated on the same farm. Rather than focusing on the maximization of within-farm diversity only, what matters is to reach an overall consistency of the system that the farmer is able to manage. Finally, we discuss the obstacles to the scaling-out of multi-species livestock farms, linked to a socioeconomic system built to benefit from the economies of scale offered by specialisation. To overcome these obstacles, we propose levers upstream (innovating for multipurpose equipment and infrastructures), downstream (reorganizing the collect chain) and around these farms (revisiting training and advice) that must be thought out in a coupled manner.

In response to the sustainability issues that agriculture faces in advanced economies, agroecology has gained increasing relevance in scientific, political, and social debates. This has promoted discussion about transitions to agroecology, which represents a significant advancement. Accordingly, it has become a growing field of research. We reviewed the literature on and in support of farm transitions to agroecology in advanced economies in order to identify key research challenges and suggest innovative research paths. Our findings can be summarized as follows: (1) Research that supports exploration and definition of desired futures, whether based on future-oriented modeling or expert-based foresight approaches, should more explicitly include the farm level. It should stimulate the creativity and design ability of farmers and other stakeholders, and also address issues of representation and power among them. (2) Research that creates awareness and assesses farms before, during or after transition requires more holistic and dynamic assessment frameworks. These frameworks need to be more flexible to adapt to the diversity of global and local challenges. Their assessment should explicitly include uncertainty due to the feedback loops and emergent properties of transitions. (3) Research that analyzes and supports farms during transition should focus more on the dynamics of change processes by valuing what happens on the farms. Research should especially give more credence to on-farm experiments conducted by farmers and develop new tools and methods (e.g., for strategic monitoring) to support these transitions. This is the first review of scientific studies of farm transitions to agroecology. Overall, the review indicates that these transitions challenge the system boundaries, temporal horizons, and sustainability dimensions that agricultural researchers usually consider. In this context, farm transitions to agroecology require changes in the current organization and funding of research in order to encourage longer term and more adaptive configurations.

Hormonal treatments to control ovulation and the intensification of reproduction rhythm are usual strategies to increase ewe productivity. However, in organic farming the use of hormones is banned, making any increase of reproduction rhythm an inappropriate practice. This work tested if increasing the number of mating sessions per year could improve ewe annual productivity, while maintaining a non-intensive reproduction rhythm of one lambing per ewe per year. Reproductive performance was studied over five years in two organic sheep farming systems differing by the number of mating sessions (MS) per year, two (2MS) or four (4MS). The 4MS system included two mating sessions in the breeding season (September and November) and non-breeding season (April and June). The 2MS system included mating in November and April. Non-pregnant ewes were recycled one (2MS) or two times (4MS system) on consecutive mating sessions. Considering all mating attempts per ewe individually (n = 1366), the time elapsed from mating to lambing (159 ± 0.2 days), fertility (86%), prolificacy (166%) and productivity (143%) did not differ between the systems (P > 0.05). Fertility, prolificacy and productivity were higher in the breeding than the non-breeding season (P ≤ 0.05), and in adults than young ewes (P ≤ 0.05), without interaction with the systems (P > 0.05). In the non-breeding season, fertility, prolificacy and productivity did not relate to ewe cyclic status (P > 0.05), whereas the time elapsed from mating to lambing was shortened in cyclic ewes (P ≤ 0.05). Good ewe body condition at lambing and mating and dynamic gain in body condition from drying to mating improved productivity (P ≤ 0.05) by increasing fertility or prolificacy regardless of the system (P > 0.05). On a yearly scale, the number of lambed ewes was higher in the 4MS than the 2MS system (91% vs 85%; P ≤ 0.05) leading to higher ewe annual productivity (154% vs 141%; P ≤ 0.05). The percentage of ewes that were recycled on consecutive mating sessions was higher in the 4MS than the 2MS system (24% vs 18%; P ≤ 0.05), possibly explaining the 4MS increase of ewe annual productivity by extending mating opportunities for the ewes. The increase in the number of mating sessions per year is a hormone-free strategy suitable for organic sheep farming systems to improve annual ewe productivity on a basis of one lambing per ewe per year. This approach proved beneficial to compensate for lower fertility in the non-breeding season, especially for young ewes.

Numerous advantages of combining cattle and sheep have been demonstrated at the grazing-season level, but the effects of this practice on system self-sufficiency require system-level and longer-term studies. We established three grassland-based organic systems as separate farmlets: one mixed system combining beef cattle and sheep (MIX) and two specialised systems, beef cattle (CAT) and sheep (SH), to serve as reference points. These farmlets were managed for 4 years, to assess the benefits of combining beef cattle and sheep in promoting the production of grass-fed meat and strengthening system self-sufficiency. The ratio of cattle to sheep livestock units in MIX was 60:40. The surface area and stocking rate were similar across all systems. Calving and lambing were adjusted to grass growth to optimise grazing. Calves were pasture-fed from 3 months old on average until weaning in October, fattened indoors with haylage and slaughtered at 12-15 months. Lambs were pasture-fed from 1 month old on average until slaughter; if lambs were not ready for slaughter when the ewes mated, they were stall-finished with concentrates. The decision to supplement adult females with concentrate was based on the achievement of a target body condition score (BCS) at key periods. The decision to treat animals with anthelmintics was based on mean faecal egg excretion remaining below a certain threshold. A higher proportion of lambs were pasture-finished in MIX vs SH (P < 0.001) due to a higher growth rate (P < 0.001) which led to a lower age at slaughter (166 vs 188 days, P < 0.001). Ewe prolificacy and productivity were higher in MIX vs SH (P < 0.02 and P < 0.065, respectively). The levels of concentrate consumption and number of anthelmintic treatments in sheep were lower in MIX vs SH (P < 0.01 and P < 0.08). Cow productivity, calf performance, carcass characteristics and the level of external inputs used did not differ between systems. However, cow BW gain during the grazing season was higher in MIX vs CAT (P < 0.05). These outcomes validated our hypothesis that the association of beef cattle and sheep promoted the self-sufficient production of grass-fed meat in the sheep enterprise. It also promoted better ewe and cow BCS and BW at key stages of the reproduction cycle and better development of the females used for replacement, which may enhance animal and system resilience.