Organic farming in the past and today in a Central European case study

FRAŇKOVÁ, Eva and Claudio CATTANEO. Organic farming in the past and today in a Central European case study. In 12TH CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS: ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS IN ACTION: BUILDING A REFLECTIVE AND INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY. 2017.

Basic information

• Original name: Organic farming in the past and today in a Central European case study
• Authors: FRAŇKOVÁ, Eva (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution) and Claudio CATTANEO (380 Italy).
• Edition: 12TH CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS: ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS IN ACTION: BUILDING A REFLECTIVE AND INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY, 2017.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Conference abstract
• Field of Study: 50704 Environmental sciences
• Country of publisher: Hungary
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: konference
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14230/17:00094373
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Keywords in English: sustainable food production; organic farming; social metabolism
• Tags: rivok

Abstract

This paper contributes to the vivid academic debate on potentially more sustainable models of food production, focusing especially on energy issues. Applying social metabolism and energy flow analysis, it compares the functioning of a current small-scale organic family farm in the village of Holubí Zhoř, Czech Republic with the historical performance of the village agroecosystem in c.1840. Historical data from the Franciscan stable cadastre and current data from direct field research are employed to quantify main productive assets (land, livestock, machinery and labour) and related energy flows into energy balance indicators. Their comparison shows that the present farm lies halfway between modern mechanized and traditional organic agriculture and thus constitutes an indicative case of the limits and potentialities of present-day more sustainable farm systems. Methodologically, the study is innovative by applying the social metabolism approach on the local (village and farm) level in the context of the global North, and by advancing the use of Energy Return On Investment (EROI) indicators for agroecosystems.

Links

• TD03000345, research and development project: Name: Vývoj metodiky pro hodnocení městských produkčních a zahradních ploch (Acronym: METURBAN)

Investor: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic