Sustainable nutrient supply of organic farming challenged by specialisation

Summary in the original language of the document

Diverse production on each farm, with livestock density well balanced with crop production, has been the traditional way to maintain the soil fertility in organic farming systems. However, there is a trend of specialisation into stockless arable or livestock farms. Stockless farming is challenged by depletion of soil mineral reserves and soil organic matter, risk of large nutrient losses after green manuring, and dependence on nutrient supply from external sources. In this paper, we focus on these challenges to sustained soil fertility.