Abstract
A Danish pre-industrial farming system is reconstructed and compared to its modern industrialized farming system equivalent to evaluate agricultural performance in a sustainability perspective. The investigated Danish farm system and its contributing elements have undergone significant transformations. The intensity of contemporary agriculture shows that high productivity levels have been achieved by increasing the input of energy using modern machinery. At the same time, the energy efficiency (calculations based on energetic indicators) diminishes over time as the degree of dependence on fossil fuels increases. The results from this study show significant changes in the farming system, specifically inputs from agricultural land use, livestock, and energy systems. From being highly circular, the system changed to being a clear linear farming system with highly increased productivity but less efficient at the same time, questioning the relationship between productivity and efficiency and resource utilization in modern farming systems. Through utilizing an agroecological historical approach by comparing system performance over time, the results offer opportunities to explore how agricultural farming systems evolve over time and help to describe the complexity of the system level in a sustainability perspective.
Highlights
At present, agricultural systems face severe environmental, economic, social, and institutional challenges [1,2,3]
The modernization and industrialization of farming systems have radically changed the patterns of agricultural production and human consumption, as well as how we as humans perceive agri-food systems
In the scientific literature on transitions of agriculture, Goodman, Sorj [4] conclude that structural changes and agricultural development, such as appropriation and substitutionism, have contributed to a radical transformation of contemporary food systems compared to pre-industrial systems
Summary
Agricultural systems face severe environmental, economic, social, and institutional challenges [1,2,3]. These societal challenges are a result of human development, increasing agricultural intensification, specialization, and mechanization [4,5,6], with the outcome of very productive agricultural systems and systems with severe environmental, climatic and social impacts [7,8,9,10]. The modernization and industrialization of farming systems have radically changed the patterns of agricultural production and human consumption, as well as how we as humans perceive agri-food systems. As stated by Cox, Atkins [5] and Woodhouse [13], population growth and urbanization have necessitated the increased productivity of agricultural systems
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