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Typology of organic management styles in a cash-crop region using a multi-criteria method

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Abstract

Organic farming, as a model of sustainable agriculture, requires key agro-ecological principles to be taken into account. In the implementation of these principles, significant differences exist across farmers, geographical areas and production systems. How is this heterogeneity expressed on farms? This paper studied the different organic management styles, defined as varying patterns of cropping systems. Based on a farm survey carried out with 17 organic cash-crop farmers in the grain-producing Île-de-France region, we developed a farm-scale multi-criteria method to assess the diversity of cropping systems in organic farms. We measured the ratio between preventive and corrective techniques, and thus evaluated the coherence of organic cropping systems with the key agronomic principles of organic agriculture. We identified three types of organic management styles representing the wide diversity of strategies related to varying patterns of cropping systems. The three types relate to various structural determinants of farms, agri-food systems and agronomic conditions. We go beyond the conventionalization debate on organic farming to show that farmers mix and match different techniques and that their cropping systems are predominantly hybrid forms which are not necessarily long lasting. Finally, our multi-criteria method provides a tool for diagnosing regional organic farming practices and agronomic problems.

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Notes

  1. The following crops are considered to be cleaning crops: alfalfa (Medicago sativa), vetch (Vicia spp), potato (Solanum tuberosum), maize (Zea mays), sunflower (Helianthus annuus), rye (Secale cereale), buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), camelina (Camelina sativa) and species of medicinal herbs or field vegetables (in case of inclusion in a cash-crop sequence). The following crops are considered to be weed-prone crops: wheat (T. aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), spelt (Triticum spelta), oat (Avena sativa), triticale (x Tritricosecale Wittmack), oilseed rape (Brassica napus), pea (Pisum sativum), fababean (Vicia faba), lentil (Lens culinaris) and flax (Linum usitatissimum). These categories can be interpreted in different ways, depending on the context.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to sincerely thank all the farmers surveyed and Liz and Nonta Libbrecht for the English editing. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable advice.

Funding

This work was supported by the Region Ile-de-France under grant DIM ASTREA. Additional funding was provided by ANR DynRurABio grants.

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Correspondence to Caroline Petit.

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Petit, C., Aubry, C. Typology of organic management styles in a cash-crop region using a multi-criteria method. Org. Agr. 6, 155–169 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-015-0124-4

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