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Energy efficiency of organic pear production in greenhouses in China

Liu, Y.; Langer, Vibeke; Høgh-Jensen, Henning and Egelyng, Henrik (2010) Energy efficiency of organic pear production in greenhouses in China. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 25, pp. 196-203.

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Summary

The development of organic protected cultivation taking place in densely populated areas has raised the question whether it is an environmentally friendly production system. The present study investigated energy consumption of organic pear production in two production systems, namely in traditional Chinese solar greenhouse and in the open field. In both production systems, energy output/input ratio and energy productivity were used as indicators to determine the energy efficiency; yield, cost of production, net economic return pear land area unit and benefit/cost ratio were used to evaluate economic productivity. The analysis results indicated that energy input and energy output in the solar greenhouse were higher than in open field per land area; whereas energy efficiency in terms of output/input ratio and energy productivity were lower in the solar greenhouse than those in the open field. However, if energy input sequestered in the protected structure was excluded in the solar greenhouse production system, energy efficiency was higher in the greenhouse system than the open-field system. Our analysis further showed that the economic costs, the yield, cost of production, gross product value and net incomes per land area unit in the greenhouse were more than twice as high as those in the open field due to a higher tree density and a premium price. However, the production taking place in open field used a great share of renewable energy and higher energy efficiency, which may comply more with the principle of organic farming than the greenhouse production system.


EPrint Type:Journal paper
Keywords:organic pear, energy efficiency, greenhouse, economic analysis
Subjects: Farming Systems > Farm economics
Crop husbandry > Greenhouses and coverings
Environmental aspects > Biodiversity and ecosystem services
Environmental aspects
Research affiliation: Denmark > DARCOF III (2005-2010) > GLOBALORG - Sustainability of organic farming in a global food chains perspective
China
Denmark > AU - Aarhus University > AU, NERI - National Environmental Research Institute
Denmark > KU - University of Copenhagen > KU-LIFE - Faculty of Life Sciences
Deposited By: Jensen, Dr Henning Høgh
ID Code:18294
Deposited On:11 Feb 2011 13:16
Last Modified:31 Mar 2011 08:40
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

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