Developing sustainable yet high-yield agricultural systems is a major priority in today’s world. Researchers at INRA have recently published a meta-analysis of wheat and maize crops showing that yields from low-input farming (using few phytosanitary products) drop only slightly compared to conventional agriculture.
Organic and low-input farming have been put forward as ways to reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture. Previous studies have shown that yields from organic farming can be 19% to 25% lower than those from conventional agriculture. An intermediary approach, called low input farming, could offer a solution that is less damaging to the environment than conventional agriculture, but still provides higher yields than organic farming. In this study, researchers compared low-input farming to conventional and organic farming. The meta-analysis was based on data from cropping system trials run in Europe and North America and focused on two major crops: maize (Zea mays L.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).
Nearly identical yields with fewer pesticides
The study showed that pesticide use was significantly lower in low-input farming compared to conventional agriculture in both crops (on average, 50% for maize and 70% for wheat). The average use of mineral nitrogen fertilizer was also reduced by 36% for maize and 28% for wheat in low-input farming compared to conventional farming. Low-input maize yields were equal to those from conventional agriculture and higher than those from organic farming (by a factor of 1.24). Low-input wheat yields were lower than conventional yields (by a factor of 0.88), but substantially higher than organic yields (by a factor of 1.43).
This study is one of the first meta-analyses to offer yield estimates of low-input cropping systems. It shows that these farming systems can greatly reduce pesticide use without considerably diminishing yields compared to conventional agriculture.
A Meta-Analysis of Maize and Wheat Yields in Low-Input vs. Conventional and Organic Systems, Laure Hossard, David W. Archer, Michel Bertrand, Caroline Colnenne-David, Philippe Debaeke, Maria Ernfors, Marie-Helene Jeuffroy, Nicolas Munier-Jolain, Chris Nilsson, Gregg R. Sanford, Sieg S. Snapp, Erik S. Jensen and David Makowski, Agronomy Journal, 26 February 2016, https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/abstracts/0/0/agronj2015.0512
This research was part of the INRA/CIRAD GloFoodS metaprogramme.
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