Agroecological indicators for Organic Rice Farming Systems ...Agroecological indicators for Organic...

Agroecological indicators for Organic Rice Farming Systems in Lombardy, Italy Andrea Porro, Roberto Spigatolo, Stefano Bocchi

First international conference Organic Rice Farming and Production Systems 27th-30th August 2012 Montpellier - FRANCE

DISAA - Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

GeoLab, DISAA, Università degli Studi di Milano

An Overview on Italian Organic system

• Organic farming system occupies in Italy 1.096.889 hectares (31/12/2011) included conversion

• < 1.5% compared to 2010 • Land uses are cereals, forage and pastures. Then

olive orchard • Livestock farming:increasing in numbers of

heads, but generally decreasing in number of farms


Rice and Organic Rice

Italy is the main rice-producing country of the European Union, accounting over 50% of production and surface (247,653 ha cultivated in 2011, while in EU were 475,752 ha). Domestic production is around 1.5 million tonnes of paddy rice, with a value of GSP over 550 million euros. Organic rice production accounts in Italy 10,343 ha Italy is the second certified organic rice producers in the world after Thailand


Marketing of Organic Products

Large scale retailers: each group usually have own label, but also host other private label. The offer is still limited compared to European ones Specialised shops: over 1000 in Italy, shows better performance than large scale retailers Farmer’s market: about 2000 farmers Restaurants: about 500 in Italy School canteen system (public procurements): about 1 million lunch consumed every school day


Summary

Agro-ecological indicators are a tool which provides an agile evaluation/assessment of the ecological footprint of a farm. This work analyses the preliminary results of a sample of 23 rice farmers of a survey in which 7 agro-ecological indicators were calculated for 81 organic farms in Lombardy region The indicators chosen (all state indicators) are: hedges and rows, energy input, energy output, energy output/input ratio, N balance, P balance, labour per hectare.


Materials and methods

The sample The sample for the survey was selected in 2007 from the official database of organic farms of Lombardy Region, and carried out during 2008/2009 with a selective filter: • only entirely organic farms were selected. • only those farms that had completed the conversion period were selected.


The agro-ecological indicators used

a. Hedges-Rows were measured as meters of hedges and rows / ha of UAA.



b. Energy input was measured as the sum of: • Machinery: input fuel consumption (l) * SEQ + lubricants (kg) * SEQ • Phytochemicals: pesticides used (kg) * SEQ - only organic pesticides were considered • Mineral fertilizer: Mineral fertilizers used (kg) * SEQ (default values: kg N contained in 1 kg of fertilizer) – not considered • Organic Fertilizer: Organic Fertilizer used (kg) * SEQ (default values: kg N contained in 1 kg of fertilizer) • Energy embedded in machinery (MJ * l-1 fuel consumed) • Other materials: quantity used (UM) * SEQ



c. Energy Output was measured as the sum of : • Total Biomass produced by all the crops = for every crop: total ha cultivated * kg / ha dry matter produced * SEQ + kg / ha dry matter of secondary products (e.g.: straw) * SEQ • Waste (sold or otherwise transferred out of the farm) = kg * SEQ • Vegetal byproducts (sold or otherwise transferred out of the farm) = kg dry matter of byproducts * SEQ • Animal products and byproducts – Yet To Be Implemented d. Energy output / input ratio Self evident



e. N Balance was calculated as N Input - N Output N Input = Sum of the following: • Organic fertilizers used = kg * default values (kg N contained in 1 kg of fertilizer) • Mineral fertilizers used = kg * SEQ * default values (kg N contained in 1 kg of fertilizer) - not considered • Biological nitrogen fixation: crop * cultivated hectares * default values (kg N fixed by the crop every year) • Atmospheric nitrogen fixed = 15 kg / ha * y



N Output = Sum of the following: • kg N in the manure/slurry (sold or otherwise transferred from the farm) kg * default values (kg N contained in 1 kg of sewage) • Plant products, raw or processed (sold or otherwise transferred from the farm) = for every crop: total ha cultivated * kg / ha dry matter produced * default values (kg N contained in 1 kg of vegetal product, raw or processed, waste included) • Animal products, raw or processed (sold or anyway transferred outside of the farm) = kg dry matter produced * default values (kg N contained in 1 kg of animal product, raw or processed, waste included) - TO BE IMPLEMENTED


P Input – P Output P Input = Sum of the following: • Organic fertilizers used = kg * default values (kg P2O5 contained in 1 kg of fertilizer) • Mineral fertilizers used = kg * specific SEQ * default values (kg P2O5 contained in 1 kg of fertilizer)



P Output = Sum of the following: • kg P content in the manure/slurry (sold or anyway transferred outside of the farm) kg * default values (kg P contained in 1 kg of product) • Plant products, raw or processed (sold or anyway transferred outside of the farm) = for every crop: total ha cultivated * kg / ha dry matter produced * default values (kg P contained in 1 kg of vegetal product, raw or processed, rejects included) • Animal products, raw or processed (sold or anyway transferred outside of the farm) = kg / ha dry matter produced * default values (kg P2O5 contained in 1 kg of animal product, raw or processed, rejects included)




g. Labour per hectare was measured as annual work = h / ha * y


Overview of the farms


Results


Organic Rice Farms Performance

Organic Rice Farms UAA hedgerows energy O/I Labour N INPUT N OUTPUT N balance P INPUT P

OUTPUT P balance

ha m/ha h year/ha kg/ha kg/ha kg/ha kg/ha1 97,38 97,38 10,31 43,43 35,64 104,61 -68,97 26,80 48,18 -21,37 2 36,12 10,55 46,26 45,95 115,12 -69,16 10,88 48,46 -37,58 3 51,24 14,31 46,75 68,68 177,75 -109,07 - 74,08 -74,08 4 21,26 6,39 51,79 120,00 91,49 28,51 45,00 40,11 4,895 100,60 12,11 52,89 142,56 144,23 -1,67 38,75 60,35 -21,60 6 49,38 13,37 52,48 128,50 156,92 -28,41 36,68 64,33 -27,65 7 91,84 12,65 62,99 29,48 132,75 -103,27 - 60,17 -60,17 8 23,61 23,61 6,00 48,50 277,18 66,50 210,68 - 36,71 -36,71 9 305,24 3,82 21,16 25,22 21,69 3,53 1,58 10,48 -8,91

10 5,81 5,81 6,74 79,72 109,34 37,98 71,36 138,19 41,50 96,7011 147,48 126,48 11,26 45,20 43,51 125,39 -81,87 17,77 54,33 -36,56 12 33,70 34,50 10,40 57,41 41,98 138,21 -96,24 27,64 66,83 -39,19 13 482,74 14,72 52,16 57,53 85,96 -28,43 - 71,19 -71,19 14 169,07 9,50 43,39 37,77 124,95 -87,18 20,20 54,47 -34,27 15 12,44 12,44 10,40 16,55 74,69 77,76 -3,07 39,79 33,28 6,5116 119,50 8,68 59,48 48,47 86,24 -37,77 4,19 48,48 -44,29 17 32,34 7,79 58,12 49,40 118,39 -68,99 104,28 46,20 58,0818 76,59 10,81 71,76 64,76 73,92 -9,16 - 55,69 -55,69 19 121,00 10,73 59,77 52,21 92,14 -39,94 - 53,17 -53,17 20 110,72 9,86 39,09 25,23 105,00 -79,77 4,15 47,76 -43,60 21 10,50 10,50 12,88 43,16 43,81 184,84 -141,03 126,67 72,75 53,9222 78,18 7,78 47,23 47,31 63,94 -16,63 14,77 37,95 -23,18 23 231,80 9,28 58,15 78,14 116,62 -38,48 158,54 58,07 100,47

Mean of Rice Farms 104,72 44,39 10,02 50,32 71,62 106,19 -34,57 35,47 51,50 -16,03 Mean of Herbaceous Crop (48 Organic Farms)

60,21 75,86 14,93 276,97 134,93 -2,17


Some data on rice farms

5 out of 23 rice farms also raise cattle (4 for organic milk) Usually leguminous crop are pea (Pisum sativum L.) as forage crop or – less commonly - soybean (Glycine max Merr.) Other cereals are maize (kernel) 18 out of 23, barley and wheat. These last two crops are usually cultivated for cattle


Organic VS Conventional

A comparison with conventional rice farming system at crop level for the energy indicator was carried out. Energy input (Conventional 22,7 compared to Organic 17.1 GJ/ha), energy output (138.2 vs 169.9 GJ/ha) and ratio (6.2 vs 10) On average the data shows a lower consumption of energy and a better Energy O/I ratio in organic farms.


Perspectives, Limits and Applications

-The survey will be implemented with another step, including livestock indicators. -The aim is to reach a comparison with conventional and/or sustainable farming system at farm level.

Limitation are emerged due to proxy of some variables

Increasing interest to include AEI as scoring techniques in Green Public Procurement especially for call for tenders of school meals

Contacts

• GeoLab – DISAA – University of Milan Team Leader prof Stefano Bocchi: [email protected] Work group Andrea Porro: [email protected] Marta Maggi, Ahmed Hafiz, Sara Costa Interno: 0039 (0)2 503.16597 Portale: http://www.diprove.unimi.it/groups/agro_rg5.htm

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.diprove.unimi.it/groups/agro_rg5.htm

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