Intérêts des complémentarités entre animal et végétal, à l’échelle d’une ou plusieurs exploitations
(sous-titres en français et en anglais)
par Eglantine Thiery
(Ingénieur agronome)
Le vitipastoralisme fait aujourd’hui partie intégrante des stratégie de développement durable, faisant chaque année de plus en plus d’adeptes dans les vignobles.
Eglantine Thiery éclaire les avantages et les challenges de cette pratique, qui s’avère surtout intéressante d’un point de vue collectif, tout en étant d’une valeur inestimable pour la préservation et la restaurant de la biodiversité en milieu viticole.
Vignoble & Biodiversité #2 – La viticulture de demain commence aujourd’hui
18 & 19 janvier 2024 – Avignon (Palais des Papes)
Ce cycle de conférences, trait d’union entre la science et le terrain, offre un véritable tour d’horizon des enjeux autour de la biodiversité, tout en dépassant largement aussi bien les limites cadastrales que le cadre stricte de la viticulture en générale. Conçu comme un dialogue ouvert, pluridisciplinaire et transversal qui s’adresse au monde viticole, le but est le partage des connaissances, la mise en valeur et la mise en commun de l’expérience pratique et scientifique, le décloisonnement des échanges et la création d’une dynamique vertueuse dans laquelle la biodiversité devient un but collectif et non pas une mission individuelle.
©VignobleBiodiversité
©VineyardsBiodiversity
#developpementdurable #viticulture #biodiversité #vitipastoralisme #transmission #openscience
The Perrin family supports this conference for an obvious reason, it is the biodiversity that we need to find on our farms, in our vineyards. What we lost today is a sense of observation. We are more likely to work mechanically and we have forgotten that the plant is a living organism. And so we really lost this sense of observation. And coming to this conference, we realize that there are all these root systems and plants, all of them are very important. That’s it, our purpose of supporting the conference is to prove that it lasts. Hello, Thanks to Birte for inviting me to participate in this conference. I feel a bit like a fly in the ointment, as I’m going to speak more about the animal and quite little about vines. To be more precise, and contrary to what my dress might lead you to think, I’m going to talk to you about livestock, and about arable crops. Hence my subtitle “Mixed farming and livestock, an agro-ecological ideal”. I’ll tell you a bit about myself and why I’ve come to talk to you about this subject. After studying livestock rearing for both a BTS in agriculture and an engineering degree, I became interested in self-sufficiency at farm level, by working on the contributions of mixed crop-livestock systems. I did this by modelling cooperation on the scale of several farms in the Burgundy, Franche-Comté and Rhône-Alpes regions, as part of a PSDR project on regional development called POEETE. It was a study of mixed cropping and livestock farming on different scales, within a framework of research-action seen with development players and with a multidisciplinary approach, since we were interested in both agronomy and economics, but also in the environment, all through participative approaches. I then moved to a social economy company called “Fermes En ViE” (FEVE) to work on these issues of autonomy, but this time on the scale of a farm and the links between polyculture and livestock on diversified farms. Having said that, in a start-up you often wear several hats, so I’ve also worked with project leaders on their installation, which has led me to become a farmer today, because I’d like to set up my own business later on. So, by dint of fiddling with the flows of material between animals and livestock, I wanted to get my feet wet and find out how it could be put in place and what the challenges and constraints were. I work on an organic farm using polyculture and mixed livestock farming. I quickly present the studies that I’ve used as a basis for this presentation. If you want to go further, since this is fairly specific to arable and livestock farming, quite little to vines, although at the end of my presentation I will still bring animals into the vineyard: you can find both on the SPICEE mixed technology network, but also on resources such as AGRO-TRANSFERT – fairly specific to the climatic context of northern France since that’s where they are located, but with quite a few references and testimonies – on the implementation of these systems. There are also a lot of studies that have been carried out, both POEETE, but also others like BREBIS_LINK which I’m going to be able to draw on concerning interactions with vines, and also the Alpes-Mediterranean Center for Pastoral Studies and Realization. Before that, let’s put things into context. We’ve already been able to discuss it this morning with the various speakers: Why are we interested in reconnecting crops and livestock, since these were systems that were previously in place, and even more diversified, since we also had vines and market gardening on these ancestral farms. But following the Second World War, when, as we saw earlier, the aim was to achieve food self-sufficiency and to reinvigorate the economy with the creation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). There was a specialization in mainly two specific dynamics: the appearance of fertilizers and mechanization. Both resulted in a separation between crops and livestock, which in the end, depending on the pedoclimatic zones and the agronomic potential, created really separate areas, as can be found in the Paris basin, with arable farming, or in mountain areas, in the foothills, which are less favourable to field crops. Or, as we’ve seen in the case of the vineyards, where livestock farming is also common. We also have areas that we know very well, such as Brittany, where livestock farming has been concentrated for other reasons. Remember intensive enclosed breeding, which has led to some fairly negative externalities, whether in terms of effluents for example, which accumulated in some areas, while in others there have been shortages of fertilizers. In the end, this created a geographical and physical separation between livestock farming and crop farming, generally either mixed or perennial farming, which opend up the biogeochemical cycles. Just before, I started talking about the nitrogen cycle with the issue of livestock effluent, which has negative environmental consequences. We know that agriculture currently accounts for 16% of greenhouse gas emissions, which are partly due to the effects of enteric gas emissions, and therefore from ruminants, but also to the production and use of synthetic fertilizers. This opening up of biogeochemical cycles and this separation, this specialization of workshops, is also an economic issue, because today we still see a lot of imports of protein-rich elements from Brazil, India etc., which will finally enter this nitrogen and protein cycle. In the same way, we’ve seen, for example with the Ukraine-Russia conflict, that we’re also very dependent on fossil fuels to create synthetic fertilizers, hence the prices that have rocketed in recent years. Finally, putting the different spheres back together – the animal and the plant – may appear to be an ideal for the agroecological transition. We’ve just had the definition of agroecology, that’s perfect. The definition I have is ‘Working with the Living. ‘ The idea is, for example, to diversify crops, lengthen rotations, have crops with multi-annual rotations, such as leguminous plants. This brings us back to the question of nitrogen autonomy on a farm scale. Putting meadows back in. But what do we do with this meadow? The one who is best suited to make the most of it, it’s going to be the animal. So in this context, we’re also looking to have less intense enclosed breeding, perhaps fewer animals to reduce these greenhouse gas emissions, to have more specialized and more hardy animals with a diversification of species as well. This is also true for crops, and similarly for biodiversity. In livestock breeding, in the choice of species we use. All of these elements will be of interest from an environmental point of view. The return of livestock effluents will enable nutrient cycles to come more efficiently full circle. The introduction of crops, including leguminous plants, whether annual or perennial. Soil cover will reduce the risk of erosion, reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers and therefore an improve water quality. From an economic point of view too, we’re goint to have quite a few advantages: we’ll be able to valorize all these by-products which have agronomic virtues, but which don’t necessarily have any interest in a totally specialized system such as field crops for example; the establishment of complementarity on the scale of several workshops; working on economies of scope rather then the economies of scale that have been favoured so far; we’re also reducing sensitivity to fluctuations in input prices, by introducing crops such as leguminous plants and lengthening the rotation, which will reduce the use of inputs and therefore be less sensitive to price variations. But also, having animals in the system and the diversification of production will make it possible to have more products on farms, which will make it possible to diversify and be less sensitive to the price of one product compared to another, in a given year. So finally, mixed farming on a farm scale has agronomic, environmental and economic benefits. However, they have disappeared quite a lot and this represents a certain limit, already in terms of workload. It requires a lot of working time, whether on the crops or the animals, which will sometimes be in competition with each other in terms of the timing of each intervention, as well as a fairly high demand in terms of investment, whether financial or human, because you’re going to have different equipment, although you can have economies of scope, but you also need different skills. And the mental load is also going to be greater, since the more we complex the system becomes, the more skills and interactions it will require. So setting up mixed crop-livestock systems on a farm scale, the idea is to keep the existing systems. But re-establishing them seems pretty complicated. The idea is to work on a supra-farm scale, or even a territorial scale, or even a landscape scale, it all depends on what we’re going to bring inside. I’m staying with the supra-farm level in what I’m going to present to you, by imagining several farms that will be more or less specialized and that will be able to trade with each other. Whether it’s fodder or other products, such as catch crops, depends on the different farms. Here you have two livestock farms and one specialized in field crops. We can also have the return of manure, as I was saying earlier. In the studies that we have been able to carry out, or that have been carries out by others, we’ve realized that these initial interactions between specialized farms, lead to other interactions. There’s also a social aspect to these exchanges, in addition to the technical aspect. We can also see the sharing of equipment between farms, and the exchange of plots in the case of joint crop rotation, which makes for greater coherence in terms of crop succession. But also, as I said, there is the social aspect : meaning getting to know your neighbours, talking to them even if they don’t have the same constraints or the same problems, encouraging them to help each other and exchange knowledge about the various systems. I’m now going to give you a few more practical examples that I was able to study during the POEETE project, and I’ll come back to the transaction costs at the end of this question. Because scaling up to several farms has a lot of advantages, but there are also a few disadvantages, or at least some costs to take into account. So one of the first elements that we discussed was the transfer of effluents. In the Saône et Loire region, we did a lot of research into straw-manure exchanges, since the problem was related to soil organic matter, which was disappearing more and more on farms specializing in large scale farming. The interest for the breeder was to compensate for a lack of straw self-suffiency, since in these areas you have quite a lot of farmers who have a lot of pasture land, but relatively little farmland. So that’s what they were interest in. But what we studied the most was the interest for arable land, with an interest in livestock effluents, which have a fairly well-known NPK value and short-term effect. But what we were particularly interested in was the amending value, which is a long-term consideration, and which will depend on the quantity and frequency of manure applied, which also depends a lot on the demineralization of the soil, and therefore on the pedoclimatic context in which we find ourselves. On the other hand, the problem we’ve encountered, and which means that we don’t necessarily go for this technique, is that manure in particular is only transported over short distances – five or ten kilometers maximum – especially manure. Then there may be composting, other technologies that reduce the weight and allow these fertilising elements to be transported over greater distances. We’re also going to face problems with pathogens, heavy metals or weed seeds, but these can be solved by technologies such as composting or other methods. We also have the sale of fodder crops. An example is alfalfa hay. There is a study carried out in Rhône-Alpes region. We set up a small network for cereal growers who wanted to diversify their production, secure their income thanks to this diversification and by setting up contracts, and a locally produced source of protein for mountain livestock farms, that weren’t necessarily self-sufficient in fodder. However, what we found was that there was specific knowledge and equipment required to alfalfa harvest. We tried to recover the leaves and it’s quite complicated, so there are ups and downs in terms of yield and quality, which can be significant. So there’s a learning curve to be re-established, which had disappeared even though it existed before. Finally, in the various studies that we have been able to carry out, there was also grazing of intercultural cover, either on intercrops in a cereal farm, or on perennial plants, whether in meadow orchards or in vineyards. The idea is to make the most of a cover that is present, either agronomically or in terms of regulations, depending on the area, particularly in vulnerable ones. It’s a source of feed for herds. In the study we carried out, it was also to help a young farmer set up in sheep farming who didn’t have the land needed to finalize her installation. But other problems have arisen, such as the movement of animals, which reduces the need for mechanical devices, but the animals have to be present and that requires surveillance and fencing. Depending on weather conditions, there are also risks of trampling and possible damage, depending on the species used on perennial crops. So, as I was saying earlier, all these cooperations and relationships, whether economic or not, between several agents, in our case of farms, can be evaluated in terms of transaction costs. First, there’s the cost of information : finding someone or finding a partner – a farmer, a cereal grower, a winegrower. Then there are the negotiations: setting up the exchange. This is an important moment. It can sometimes be overlooked, but whether it’s a commercial or non-commercial deal, it’s very important to clearly define everyone’s expectations and constraints: grazing schedule, what constraints I’m going to have during the period when the farmer is going to be present, and when he has to leave my plot. In short, these are really important things that need to be written down, put on paper, and as exhaustively as possible. Then we’re going to have the costs of implementing the exchange: setting it up, how it’s going, what monitoring and so on, and then readjusting if necessary. So these are management costs. And here, what’s really important, is communication. It has to be very regular, whether while the animals are on somebody elses party’s farm, for example, or not, but also at other times. To this end, guidebooks have been created, because until now these were not necessarily standardized. We have a specific guidebook for cereal farmers, which doesn’t necessarily apply to you. On the other hand, I’ve also found a charter of good practice for securing the vine-grazing system. In this guide, you can formalize who the stakeholders are, what the constraints are for everyone, the grazing schedule and winegrower’s technical itinerary. I’ll now move on to several examples of animals in the vineyards. The first, which is the most common and the most visited I think, and also the easiest to set up, is sheep grazing, which is done when the vines are resting in winter. It’s very important to get them out before budbreak. Most often, this is done in cooperation with the shepherd. The winegrower does not own the animals. If you own animals, you have to declare them, you have to learn how to manage them and keep an eye on them all year round. Working with a shepherd, on the other hand, means that you have the animals just when you need them. The idea, as presented here, is to have large enough blocks to have a herd arriving at a given time. However, I’ve also seen examples where a few sheep were enough to maintain just a few hectares of vines. The important thing is to have meadows or fallow land nearby, to have places to ball back to in the event of heavy rainfall. It has also been shown that having sheep around at that time helps to maintain, without the need for mechanical equipment, the vineyards and any fallow land. For everything that will be loading and really technical about the presence of sheep, it all depends on the depth of the soil and the width of the rows. It depends on the availability of resources for the animals. Grazing can be quite rapid, with large numbers of animals. It requires learning, but it’s pretty quick. The sheep get used to going between rows quite quickly, and once they’re used to the fences, it’s pretty easy. What effect will it have? The wingrowers’ first motivation for setting it up will be to help a breeder get established, as far as we know from existing testimonys. It’s also a question of image, since it looks good to have animals in the vineyards. But it does have a fairly strong effect on soil fertilization. You can also choose and play on how long the ewes will be present, what load do you have, where do they sleep and where do they distribute their excrement the most? This allows you to control the grass, since in the end you’re going to have a clean cut at the end of winter, which saves at least one or even two passes of machinery. This reduces the risk of water competition, but also the risk of spreading disease, because if you put the animals in after the leaves have fallen, they eat some of them, which means less micro-organism reserves that can be harmful to subsequent crops. So it saves the winegrower time and fuel, because there are fewer passages. And for winemakers who use conventional methods, there’s also a reduction in the amount of plant production products used. There may still be some damage to the vines and the trellising, depending on how the animals panic: they’re still fairly timid animals, so you have to be careful about that, but they get used to going between rows quite quickly. As I said, watch out for heavy rain. Care must also be taken because animals can be sensitive to copper. You have to wait a certain amount of time after the last treatment, and a certain amount of rain, to reduce this risk. Two other examples are hens and even poultry in the vineyards. It’s a little less common. This can be all year round, although when the fruit is present, it may still be dangerous. It’s not a bad idea to do rotational grazing and to also have fallback areas at those times. Winegrowers can own the land, which still requires surveillance and upkeep, but less than with sheep. By putting mobile hen houses at the end of rows and fences, it’s quite easy rotate, put them to pasture and even to turn over the soil in the inter-rows and under the vines. In the same way, we will have an effect on soil fertility and weed cover, but also on pests and diseases, since the poultry will also be able to eat molluscs and other insects. It can also proivide additional income, if eggs or poultry meat are produced. This may be the case for hens, but I’ve also found examples in the Beaujolais region, where they’ve put geese in. On the other hand, you have to be fairly careful with avian flu: you need to have fallback solutions, since in recent years it has been a recurring problem. You have to be able to bring the animals in, and therefore think about this aspect. There is also the predation aspect, since whether foxes or buzzards, they’re also very fond of poultry. Finally, one last example that I was able to find, and this is under development, is the establishment of Kunekune pigs. These are small New Zealand pigs that will have an impact, that will turn the soil like wild boars would, but to a lesser extent and at a shallower depth. As with the poultry, it’s a question of providing shelter, watering points and fencing. This will have an effect on tillage, whether on the row or between the rows, without damaging the vines. You still have to be careful about how long you leave these animals around, but it can be done quite well, so the same benefits can be seen as before. On the other hand, for the dispersal of this system, the biosafety rules, once again with regard to health aspects, are very strict. Double fencing is compulsory to ensure there is no contact with animals, wild boar in particular, to prevent swine fever. The implementation of this system still seems to be quite impractical at present, although as you can see on the “Cochon des Vignes” website, there is a fairly interesting effect on turning over the soil. So it remains to be seen how the system will evolve. You can also contact Mr. Zébic, who set up this system and is offering help and support in setting it up. What we’ve been able to discuss together is that putting a few pigs on the farm is forbidden, it is not possible. Thank you for your attention, and I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you about one last animal that I haven’t mentioned so far: animal traction and the horse, which can also be part of the team. And here are some references if you want to go further.