10226: Economic and environmental analysis of the introduction of legumes in livestock farming systems

Reveredo Giha, C; Topp, C F E; Toma, L and Wu, L (2006) Economic and environmental analysis of the introduction of legumes in livestock farming systems. Poster presented at What can organic farming deliver? COR 2006, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, 18-20 September 2006; Published in Atkinson, C; Ball, B; Davies, D H K; Rees, R; Russell, G; Stockdale, E A; Watson, C A; Walker, R and Younie, D, Eds. Aspects of Applied Biology 79, What will organic farming deliver? COR 2006, page pp. 199-203.

Summary

Legumes in low input systems are becoming increasingly important. The socioeconomic implication of the adoption of novel legumes species has been assessed in sheep and dairy cattle grazing systems in Europe using a biological model which has been linked to linear programming models. In the economic sub-model, the mathematical programming models produce an economic evaluation of the legumes in a farming system context, emphasising the land allocation and the availability of nutrients during the different seasons of the production cycle. Then the paper evaluates the impact of adopting the legumes on the regional income and production. In the UK and Germany, the introduction of legumes results in sizeable gains for the farmers whereas in Italy and France the gains are smaller.

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