High output farming systems in Europe: the French case

Bijeenkomst: EGF2015
Auteur: Brocard V., Belot P.-E., Foray S., Perrot C. and Rouillé B.
ISBN: 978-9090-289-61-8
Jaar van uitgifte: 2015
Producttype: Paper
This paper focusses on dairy production systems in France. First, the huge diversity in production backgrounds and systems will be presented to put its main variation factors to the fore: the differences between plains and mountains, the low level of specialization of the dairy farms and the differences in terms of density of farms on the territory. The relatively high availability of land as well as the moderate price of agricultural land in France compared to the other European and world dairy farming areas are put to the fore. The feeding systems for each class of production system are described to underline the strong link between land, forage production and performances of dairy herds. The search for high levels of self-sufficiency in dry matter, energy and proteins in French dairy farms also accounts for the relatively low levels of stocking rates and milk production per hectare reached in many areas. Finally, the relations between the high production output strategies and some environmental issues such as nitrate leaching and biodiversity are discussed. The issue of the definition of ‘high output farming systems’ in such contrasting situations is addressed.

The packagoe contains both paper and slides.