Abstract
The aim of this work is to assess the flexibility of production allowed by extensive production conditions faced with variations in the environment, i.e., market variations and climatic fluctuations, of Limousin beef systems. The study used a case-based methodology in which seven beef farms with less than 1 LU/ha were chosen. Data collection was based on three interviews using a semistructured questionnaire and on the analysis of productive and economic results over a 15-year period (1991-2005). The main evolution of these farms is related to a rise in work productivity associated with an increase in herd size. Herd increase was made possible by enlarging the area, the margin of intensification being limited in these regions. To take advantage of the enlarged land area, females were reared for fattening or for reproduction instead of selling them at weaning. The Limousin female provides a wide product mix because of its plasticity, as has been studied by several researchers. This mix flexibility is achieved by delaying product differentiation, a form of production flexibility that can reduce the risk of under-producing or over- producing varied product configurations. On the other hand, calves sold to the Italian market after weaning are generic products, associated with a flexible production process to overcome fluctuations in forage availability due to climatic variations. The introduction of maize silage for feeding acts as an alternative route, actual and potential, through the system to overcome unexpected forage shortage from natural grasslands as a result of droughts. The study shows that extensive farming systems have developed types of flexibility to match different factors of uncertainty from the environment. Finally, the issue of farm system performance is thus not so much a question of whether a farm is fit at a specific moment in time, but whether it transforms into a less or more sustainable orientation.
Highlights
In the last 15 years, European agriculture has been confronted with unprecedented change
Land area increased in almost all farms (+ 32%), cereal forage crops tended to diminish (- 64%), and maize silage area increased
A second group of factors determining farming system evolution, relative to less-favored areas like the Limousin, involves a process of abandonment of farming and of changes that occur in the remaining farms
Summary
In the last 15 years, European agriculture has been confronted with unprecedented change. The stability of the competitive environment in the 1960s and 1970s has been replaced by increasing uncertainty. Farmers operating in markets are faced with an array of changing contexts (Veysset et al 2005). These changes relate to large scale and local market movements, variable climate and potential changes in climate, and changes in domestic agricultural policies, i.e., subsidies, incentives, tariffs, insurances. Previous concepts that guided the classical approach of farm management such as stability, income maximization, or biological optimization are increasingly replaced by concepts such as plasticity, adaptability, and flexibility (Darnhofer et al 2010a). There is no such thing as an ever-stable system and within the context of agriculture, farmers have always lived in changing political, economic, and ecological environments in which surprise and structural change are inevitable (Milestad and Darnhofer 2003)
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