Energy efficiency in long-term Mediterranean cropping systems with different management intensities

Optimising the implementation of energy used in agriculture is an important objective in the “Climate Action and Renewable Energy Package” adopted by the European Union. Therefore, studying the management of different cropping systems represents a good method to optimise input requirements, yield and net energy supply. The aim of this study is to compare the energy use of a 12-year rainfed cropping system, located in Tuscany, Italy. The system is cultivated under two different management intensities: a conventional system (CS) and a low input system (LIS) for a six-year crop rotation that included sugar beet, durum wheat, sorghum, sunflower, and durum wheat. In the sixth year, the soil was set-aside. The results showed that crop yield and energy yield were not significantly affected by management intensities, whereas energy efficiency of the low input system increased significantly, by about 30%. Future research should include more crops and locations to obtain further information about the range of energy parameters and their long-term trends. Furthermore, could be interesting to evaluate the overall reduction of environmental impacts and production costs that could occur limiting the use of chemicals and adopting conservative soil tillage strategies.