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Title: | Assessing the energy trap of industrial agriculture in North America and Europe: 82 balances from 1830 to 2012 |
Author: | Tello, Enric Sacristán, Vera Olarieta, José R. Cattaneo, Claudio Marull, Joan Pons, Manel Gingrich, Simone Krausmann, Fridolin Galán, Elena Marco, Inés Padró, Roc Guzmán, Gloria I. González de Molina, Manuel Cunfer, Geoff Watson, Andrew MacFadyen, Joshua Fraňková, Eva Aguilera, Eduardo Infante-Amate, Juan Urrego-Mesa, Alexander Soto, David Parcerisas, Lluis Dupras, Jérôme Díez-Sanjuán, Lucía Caravaca, Jonathan Gómez, Laura Fullana, Onofre Murray, Ivan Jover, Gabriel Cussó, Xavier Garrabou, Ramon, 1937- |
Keywords: | Política agrícola Política energètica Agricultura Agricultural policy Energy policy Agriculture |
Issue Date: | 8-Nov-2023 |
Publisher: | Springer Verlag |
Abstract: | Early energy analyses of agriculture revealed that behind higher labor and land productivity of industrial farming, there was a decrease in energy returns on energy (EROI) invested, in comparison to more traditional organic agricultural systems. Studies on recent trends show that efficiency gains in production and use of inputs have again somewhat improved energy returns. However, most of these agricultural energy studies have focused only on external inputs at the crop level, concealing the important role of internal biomass flows that livestock and forestry recirculate within agroecosystems. Here, we synthesize the results of 82 farm systems in North America and Europe from 1830 to 2012 that for the first time show the changing energy profiles of agroecosystems, including livestock and forestry, with a multi-EROI approach that accounts for the energy returns on external inputs, on internal biomass reuses, and on all inputs invested. With this historical circular bioeconomic approach, we found a general trend towards much lower external returns, little or no increases in internal returns, and almost no improvement in total returns. This “energy trap” was driven by shifts towards a growing dependence of crop production on fossil-fueled external inputs, much more intensive livestock production based on feed grains, less forestry, and a structural disintegration of agroecosystem components by increasingly linear industrial farm managements. We conclude that overcoming the energy trap requires nature-based solutions to reduce current dependence on fossil-fueled external industrial inputs and increase the circularity and complexity of agroecosystems to provide healthier diets with less animal products. |
Note: | Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-023-00925-5 |
It is part of: | Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 2023, vol. 43 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2445/212580 |
Related resource: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-023-00925-5 |
ISSN: | 1774-0746 |
Appears in Collections: | Articles publicats en revistes (Història Econòmica, Institucions, Política i Economia Mundial) |
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