Rationale

The capacity of organic farming to feed the planet is highly controversial. Some recent meta-analyses have compared the average yield per crop in organic vs conventional farming. Although these studies have provided some key elements to assess scenarios of dramatic development of organic farming in terms of food production, they suffer from two major limits.

First, these studies did not consider the potential impact of organic farming development on crop yields due to potentially increased competition for nutrient sources: since chemical fertilisers are banned in organic farming, the availability of approved nutrient sources for soil fertilisation (livestock effluents, composts, etc.) might be limited in some areas -eg, in stockless regions. In addition, some recent reports have highlighted that organic farming may be dependent from conventional farming to source nutrients –eg through conventional manure import. Such sourcing might turn to be limited if organic farming was to develop dramatically.

Second, those meta-analyses did not account for differences in crop rotations in organic vs conventional farming. However, crop rotations often differ between these farming types, eg to benefit from pest regulation and N2 fixation services provided by longer, more diversified crop rotations.
In particular, organic crop rotations often exhibit higher frequencies of leguminous crops and cultivated grasslands and lower frequencies of cereals. However, while this information is of critical importance to assess scenarios of organic farming development in terms of food production, we lack detailed and consistent data on crop rotations in organic vs conventional farming.

This PhD project aims to address these two limits and to assess the food production capacity of organic farming if it was to develop dramatically at the global scale. More generally, this project aims to discuss the potential contribution of organic agriculture to the global food security.

Expected profile

• Master student with sound bases in agricultural sciences or in ecology with clear interest in agricultural issues. Experience in mathematical modelling or scenario assessment is an asset
• Interest for large scale studies (country, planet)
• Excellent writing skills, fluent in English. If possible, some French notions.
• On top of that, you are rigorous, autonomous, creative and motivated by working in a research environment.

How to apply?

Any Master student interested in this project is required to send his/her CV and a motivation letter to Thomas NESME (thomas.nesme@agro-bordeaux.fr) before July 10th 2015. The letter should illustrate how the candidate considers his/her skills and experiences match our expectations.

Read more about the proposition