Restoring value to grasslands Jean-Louis Peyraud 1,2 , Alain Peeters 3 1 INRA Scientific direction of Agriculture, 2 Coordinator of the FP7 project – MULTISWARD 3 RHEA Seminar “ Resource-use Efficiency: Implications for the Sustainability and Competitiveness of the European Livestock Sector ” ( Brussels, November 7 th 2012)
Evolution of the permanent grassland area EU-15-(BE+LU) EU-6 (Mio ha) (Mio ha) FAOSTAT Eurostat 66 000 64 000 62 000 -30% -15% 60 000 58 000 56 000 -10 Mio ha -7.1 Mio ha 54 000 52 000 50 000 http://www.multisward.eu
SOC content is higher under grassland France Cropland 40 t SOC/ha Grassland 70 t SOC/ha Brussels, 7 Nov 2012 http://www.multisward.eu
Dynamics of C flow under grassland and crop land Land Use Change for European soils, - Conversion of arable land to grassland leads to an estimated increase of Soil Organic Content of 1.44 t C/ha/yr - Existing grasslands still build up SOC at a rate of 0.52 t/ha/yr - Arable lands lose SOC at a rate of -0.84 ton C/ha/yr (Vleeshouwers & Verhagen, 2002). Median source sink (gC/m²/year) -600 -400 -200 0 200 400 600 800 NCS (g C m-2) Temporary 100 grassland Permanent 72 grassland -600 -400 -200 0 200 400 600 800 NCS (g C m-2) CarboEurope, GHG-Europe project, (Klumpp , Soussana et al) 38 Eu sites during 3 to 8 years Brussels, 7 Nov 2012 http://www.multisward.eu
Water flows according to land use Evapo- transpiration Conifer forest Broad-leaf forest Run-off SNG Percolation Arable land Need to be more precisely quantified in defferent contexts http://www.multisward.eu
(Semi-natural) grasslands contribute positively to the biodiversity Bird species Ants Arachnids Butterfly larva coleoptera Insect larva Slugs (earthworms) invertebrates per m² Individual number of Species involved in pollinisation Cropland Pasture Cropland +No till Billeter et al., (2008) Integration of perennial crop in rotations increase the specific wealth and abundance of invertebrates Billeter et al (2008) Brussels, 7 Nov 2012 http://www.multisward.eu
Grassland reduces the risk of soil erosion Erosion (t/ha/year EU = 1,5 t/ha/year Grassland: 0,3 t/ha/year Cropland: 3,6 t/ha/year Permanent soil cover Dense root system Cerdan et al. (2010) Multisward (delivrable 1.1) Brussels, 7 Nov 2012 http://www.multisward.eu
Grassland contributes to reduce the use of pesticides % area having one or more pesticide application 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Grassland (%UAA) (Raison et al., 2008), Greendairy project Brussels, 7 Nov 2012 http://www.multisward.eu
Grassland-based systems consume less non-renewable energy MJ/kg milk 5.0 4.0 3.1 1.4 Conventional Pasture/MS Grazing, fert N Grazing, WC Thomassen et al., 2008 Beguin et al., 2008 Lovett et al., 2007 Basset-Mens et al., 2008 Le Gall et al., 2009 Brussels, 7 Nov 2012 http://www.multisward.eu
Most significant public goods associated with EU agriculture Arable Intensive SNG Forest land grassland Agricultural landscapes + ++ +++ + Farmland biodiversity +/- - + +++ - - - Water quality - - - - - +++ +++ Water availability - ++ +++ - -/+ Climate stability / C storage - - + ++ +++ Control of GHG emissions - 0/- + +++ Air quality - + ++ +++ Resilience to flooding - - + +++ +/- Resilience to fire +++ +++ +++ - - - /+ http://www.multisward.eu
Grassland contributes positively to the quality of animal product % saturated FA 75 Milk Meat 70 Compared with grain-fed beef, grass-fed beef is 65 - Lower in total fat (1/4 to 1/3) 0 25 50 75 100 - Lower in saturated fatty acids 1,2 - Higher in total omega-3 Rum Ac 1,0 - Healthier ratio of 6 to 3 FA 0,8 3 % FA (1.7 vs 5 to14) 0,6 0,4 - Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11) 0,2 (Duckett et al., 2009) 0 0 25 50 75 100 Proportion of grass in the diet (Couvreur et al., 2006) Brussels, 7 Nov 2012 http://www.multisward.eu
Grassland and legumes based systems increase protein self-sufficiency Imports of soybean meal – EU-27 net imports = 32 Mt SBM equivalent to – 19 M ha of ‘ virtual land ’ (2007-8) (Witzke and Noleppa 2010) – 25% of grassland area on CP basis (Swolfs 2011, Peeters) Atmospheric N fixation vs mineral N utilisation – 180 à 200 (peas), 150 à 250 (white clover), 350 (Lucerne) kg N/ha (Peeters, 2006; Vertès et al., 2010) Reduction of the use of soybean meal (Peyraud et al. 2009 for synthesis) – Tall legumes are good complements to maize silage MS + 5 kg alfalfa (red clover) silage = - 2 kg SBM for similar milk yield – Milk yield is higher on WC-PRG pasture than on PRG pasture Brussels, 7 Nov 2012 http://www.multisward.eu
Dairy systems based on grazing are competitive FADN data Net income difference between grazing Production cost ( € /L) and indoor feeding ( € /100 kg milk) 0,25 0,25 +2,0 0,20 0,20 +1,5 0,15 0,15 +1,0 +0,5 0,10 0,10 +0,0 0,05 0,05 -0,5 0 0 -1,0 BRE BRE PdL PdL BN BN 0 500 1000 1500 2000 74 82 81 Grassland Grass intake (kg DM cow/year) (% forage area) 59 62 68 (Samson et al., 2011) (Van den Pol-van Dasselaar , EGF 2010) http://www.multisward.eu
SWOT analysis of grassland vs Maize Strength Weakness - Low production costs - Management (grazing, weather conditions - Positive/very positive effect on biodiversity at harvest) - Soil and water protection (N, pesticides, - Relatively low productivity permanent soil cover, C storage) - Forage quality / high animal demand - Consumption of fossil energy - Relative high cost for silage making - Protein self sufficiency - Risk of nitrate losses under Intensively - Pillar of organic farming (+ PDO products) managed temporary grassland - Healthier and more tasty meat and dairy products Opportunities Threats - Greening component of the CAP reform - Reduction of agricultural support - Social demand and political - Reduction of the rural development policy willingness / environment - Agro-fuel vs grassland - Increase price of fossil energy - High price of cereals - Meat and dairy products world market - Consumption of beef and sheep - Accuracy of C accounting methodology http://www.multisward.eu
Challenges for research Challenges for EU farming systems - Less fossil energy demanding and more efficient converter of resources // increase of fossil fuel prices - Environmental impact, environmental services and animal welfare / Societal acceptance of ruminant production systems: - Competitiveness and resilience / price volatility Progress - A new integration of grassland and arable land at the farm and/or the region levels : management for maximising benefits - N fixation by legumes : yield, management of rotation, benefits for animals - The right cow for the right system - A special effort by livestock systems: less energy efficient than arable systems per kg of food produced / production of other services - Political and economical tools to facilitate transitions: Cost of public policy, implication of all the food chain actors http://www.multisward.eu
Thank you http://www.multisward.eu
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