Mix-Enable
Project Facts
Core Organic Cofund + regional funds
Guillaume MARTIN, project leader
Case overview/description
Integrating two or more animal species with crop production or agroforestry on a farm potentially provide a large number of benefits (enhanced animal health, improved use of pastures, etc.). However, organic mixed livestock farms (OMLF) tend to specialize or display limited integration between farm components. The project will provide the organic sector with key insights about the features of the most sustainable and robust mixed livestock farms and innovative layouts of such farms.
We aim to (i) characterize OMLF in Europe, especially their level of integration between farm components, (ii) assess their sustainability and robustness to adverse events, (iii) compare their performances with those of specialized farms, (iv) integrate the knowledge developed on OMLF into models that can simulate their performances against climatic and economic variability, (v) conduct farm-level experiments to generate knowledge about OMLF (to feed into the models) and (vi) co-design with farmers more sustainable and robust OMLF.
We analyze mixed livestock farms, focusing on integrations between enterprises (livestock enterprises btw them but also livestock enterprises with crops). In Mix-Enable, Integration refers to the management of interactions over space and time between farm enterprises from the point of view of production, work and sales.
Mixed livestock enterprises (of max. 3 species): dairy cattle and/or beef cattle and/or meat sheep and/or dairy sheep and/or pig and/or poultry and/or goat and/or horse
free market, european agricultural policy
Scientist researchers, extension, farmers, universities/schools
surveys on farm, indicators of sustainability and robustness, modelling, workshops, farm level experiments
Outcome/ Beneficiaries/ Issues
We will inform farmers on the ways to manage mixed farms to reach economic sustainability regarding its inner and external characteristics.
We will inform about the impacts of integrations btw enterprises on farmer's workload.
We will review e.g. the impact of mixed livestock on environmental diversity
The project will target end-users through specific dissemination actions (WP6) including farmer field days, information sheets describing project results, videos presenting innovative, sustainable and robust farms, etc. Another important part of the dissemination process will be the farmer participation through surveys and workshops.
the project has a strong participatory component and involves organic farmer associations, chambers of agriculture, etc. Communication of the research outputs and outcomes will include information sheets summarizing the key features of the most sustainable and robust mixed livestock farms, decision trees displaying consistent combinations of practices, and a handbook of good practices for organic mixed livestock farming. We will also organize researcher exchange among partner countries to facilitate transnational knowledge transfer in the framework of farmer field schools. Dissemination actions, feedback provided by farmers and farm consultants, and innovative ideas will be continually reinjected in the project.
Conflicts/Problems identified at the first year: to standardise the methods at the european level, to find farmers willing to participate to the surveys, the duration of each survey on farm, 10 partners to collaborate and find commitments to go further.
Ongoing project
We analyze mixed livestock farms, focusing on integrations between enterprises (livestock enterprises btw them but also livestock enterprises with crops). In Mix-Enable, Integration refers to the management of interactions over space and time between farm enterprises from the point of view of production, work and sales.
Only few publications exist regarding impact of the level of integration btw enterprises on workload and economics.
Mixed Livestock farm, Organic, diversified farms, diversification, integration, interaction, sale channels, work organisation