Whole-farm modeling approach to evaluate different crop rotations in organic dairy systems

• Ano de defesa: 2014
• Autor(a) principal: Abreu, Daniel Carneiro de
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
• Palavras-chave em Português: Trigo; Triticum aestivum; Alimentos naturais; Leite - Produção; Agricultura orgânica; Sustentabilidade; Avaliação de Alimentos para Animais
• Link de acesso: http://www.locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/6596

The market for high-quality organic bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is increasing in New England. This economic niche represents one alternative income for organic dairy producers (if they include wheat in their crop rotation) to supply this market by raising wheat as a cash crop. Our objective was to determine the sustainability to eight crop rotation sequences of 3-yr rotations in a long-term (25-yr) well-managed organic dairy farm. A medium-sized organic dairy farm was simulated with the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM, version 3.6) to evaluate crop rotation (management) effects on crop performance, environmental impacts and profitability. The cropping strategies included continuous ryegrass/red clover (continuous grass), corn (Zea mays L.) harvested early followed by winter wheat (corn-wwheat-grass), corn followed by spring wheat (corn-swheat-grass), ryegrass/red clover rotated with winter wheat (grass-wwheat-grass), ryegrass/red clover in rotation with spring wheat (grass-swheat-grass), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotated by both winter wheat (soybean-wwheat-grass) and spring wheat (soybean- swheat-grass), corn double cropped (corn-corn-grass) and soybean followed by corn (soybean- corn-grass). Wheat was harvested as a cash crop in all simulated years and sold at a premium price. All rotations were in long rotation with perennial ryegrass/red clover (Lolium perenne / Trifolium pratense) over the 3-yr. In general, there was no economic and environmental benefit to shifting land from continues grass-based production to specified cropping rotations. However, under crop rotation, use of winter wheat should be encouraged, particularly soybean replaced with cash crop wheat, to reduce environmental impact and improve farm profitability.