Energy, Nitrogen, and Farm Surplus Transitions in Agriculture from Historical Data Modeling. France, 1882–2013. 

Abstract

This article addresses agricultural metabolism and transitions for energy, nitrogen, farm production, self-sufficiency, and surplus from historical data since the nineteenth century. It builds on an empirical data set on agricultural production and production means in France covering 130 consecutive years (1882-2013). Agricultural transitions have increased the net production and surplus of farms by a factor of 4 and have zeroed self-sufficiency. The energy consumption remained quasi-stable since 1882, but the energy and nitrogen structure of agriculture fully changed. With an EROI (energy return to energy invested) of 2 until 1950, preindustrial agriculture consumed as much energy to function as it provided in exportable surplus to sustain the nonagricultural population. The EROI doubled to 4 over the last 60 years, driven, on the one hand, by efficiency improvements in traction through the replacement of draft animals by motors and, on the other hand, by the joint increase in crop yields and efficiency in nitrogen use. Agricultural energy and nitrogen transitions shifted France from a self-sufficiency agri-food-energy regime to a fossil-dependent food export regime. Knowledge of resource conversion mechanisms over the long duration highlights the effects of changing agricultural metabolism on the system's feeding capacity. Farm self-sufficiency is an asset against fossil fuel constraints, price volatility, and greenhouse gas emissions, but it equates to lower farm surplus in support of urbanization. Keywords:agricultural transitions energy return on invested energy (EROI) external energy dependence farm self-sufficiency industrial ecology nitrogen use efficiency (NUE)Supporting information is linked to this article on the JIE website

Can Agriculture Balance Its Energy Consumption and Continue to Produce Food? A Framework for Assessing Energy Neutrality Applied to French Agriculture

“…Virtually all the energy invested as an input to the production system was sourced by self-fueling which was the sum of food for farmers and feed for working animals. Farm surplus was the final agricultural produce once the system had fulfilled its functional energy requirements [4]. Self-fueling got progressively replaced by external energy inputs used for traction machines, irrigation, greenhouses, livestock facilities, and synthetic fertilizers.…”

“…The challenge of energy transition calls for re-acknowledging agriculture as an energy source able to provide, in addition to food, bioenergy to society for substitution to fossil fuels. However, current agriculture heavily relies on fossil fuels itself [2][3][4] and, thereby, it is far from being a renewable energy system. From the late 1960s to date, the role of energy in agri-food systems and in particular the reliance on fossil fuels has been examined and quantified with a growing research interest [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…From the late 1960s to date, the role of energy in agri-food systems and in particular the reliance on fossil fuels has been examined and quantified with a growing research interest [5][6][7][8][9][10]. The analysis of the energy metabolism of agricultural systems can provide insights on structural energy deficits or surpluses and on the complex relationships between energy inputs and productivity [4,11,12]. Agricultural transitions entail structural changes in the energy metabolism and feeding capacity of agriculture and highlight the relevance of industrial ecology approaches in prospective agricultural modelling.…”

“…Agricultural transitions entail structural changes in the energy metabolism and feeding capacity of agriculture and highlight the relevance of industrial ecology approaches in prospective agricultural modelling. Recently, the fourfold increase in the farm surplus i.e., the feeding capacity of agriculture, during agricultural industrialization was demonstrated for France, highlighting the role of improved resource conversion efficiencies and of the disruption of self-fueling in this increase [4]. Self-fueling is the sum of internal biomass invested as an energy input in agricultural production and got almost fully replaced in less than three decades by external energy inputs.…”

Winners of the 2018 Graedel Prizes: The Journal of Industrial Ecology best paper prizes

“…Seven papers were nominated for the 2018 prizes. In the senior first author category, these were articles by: Alhola, Ryding, Salmenperä, and Busch () on government procurement in the circular economy; Harchaoui and Chatzimpiros () on historical transitions in French agriculture; and Makov, Fishman, Chertow, and Blass () on the second‐hand value of smartphones. The four nominated papers in the junior first author category were: an application of consequential LCA to Peruvian agriculture (Larrea‐Gallegos, Vázquez‐Rowe, Wiener, & Kahhat, ); an assessment of potential to bridge the UK's climate mitigation gap via economy‐wide material productivity (Scott, Giesekam, Barrett, & Owen, ); an analysis of the water‐energy nexus in China and the United States (Font Vivanco, Wang, Deetman, & Hertwich, ); and a review of the history of China's circular economy policies (Zhu, Fan, Shi, & Shi, ).…”