Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance Standard 2.1 ‘Maintaining the level of soil organic matter through management of stubble and crop residues’ and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers

Submitted: 1 June 2015
Accepted: 1 June 2015
Published: 15 December 2015
Abstract Views: 2144
Article - Italian: 549
Article - English: 491
Technical Report: 3232
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Authors

  • Domenico Ventrella domenico.ventrella@crea.gov.it CREA-SCA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Italy.
  • Nino Virzì CREA-ACM, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Citrus crops and the Mediterranean, Italy.
  • Francesco Intrigliolo CREA-ACM, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Citrus crops and the Mediterranean, Italy.
  • Massimo Palumbo CREA-ACM, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Citrus crops and the Mediterranean, Italy.
  • Michele Cambrea CREA-ACM, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Citrus crops and the Mediterranean, Italy.
  • Alfio Platania CREA-ACM, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Citrus crops and the Mediterranean, Italy.
  • Fabiola Sciacca CREA-ACM, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Citrus crops and the Mediterranean, Italy.
  • Stefania Licciardello CREA-ACM, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Citrus crops and the Mediterranean, Italy.
  • Antonio Troccoli CREA-CER, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Cereal Crops, Italy.
  • Mario Russo CREA-CER, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Cereal Crops, Italy.
  • Rosa Francaviglia CREA-RPS, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Soil-Plant System, Italy.
  • Ulderico Neri CREA-RPS, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Soil-Plant System, Italy.
  • Margherita Falcucci CREA-RPS, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Soil-Plant System, Italy.
  • Giampiero Simonetti CREA-RPS, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Soil-Plant System, Italy.
  • Olimpia Masetti CREA-RPS, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Soil-Plant System, Italy.
  • Ginaluca Renzi CREA-RPS, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for the Soil-Plant System, Italy.
  • Marisanna Speroni CREA-FLC, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Fodder Crop and Dairy Productions, Italy.
  • Lamberto Borrelli CREA-FLC, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Fodder Crop and Dairy Productions, Italy.
  • Giovanni Cabassi CREA-FLC, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Fodder Crop and Dairy Productions, Italy.
  • Luigi Degano CREA-FLC, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Fodder Crop and Dairy Productions, Italy.
  • Roberto Fuccella CREA-FLC, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Fodder Crop and Dairy Productions, Italy.
  • Francesco Savi CREA-FLC, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Fodder Crop and Dairy Productions, Italy.
  • Paolo Tagliabue CREA-FLC, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Fodder Crop and Dairy Productions, Italy.
  • Marco Fedrizzi CREA-ING, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Agricultural Engineering, Italy.
  • Roberto Fanigliulo CREA-ING, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Agricultural Engineering, Italy.
  • Mauro Pagano CREA-ING, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Agricultural Engineering, Italy.
  • Giulio Sperandio CREA-ING, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Agricultural Engineering, Italy.
  • Mirko Guerrieri CREA-ING, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Agricultural Engineering, Italy.
  • Daniele Puri CREA-ING, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Agricultural Engineering, Italy.
  • Francesco Montemurro CREA-SCA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Italy.
  • Vittorio Alessandro Vonella CREA-SCA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Italy.
  • Luisa Giglio CREA-SCA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Italy.
  • Francesco Fornaro CREA-SCA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Italy.
  • Mirko Castellini CREA-SCA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Italy.
  • Rita Leogrande CREA-SCA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Italy.
  • Carolina Vitti CREA-SCA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Italy.
  • Marcello Mastrangelo CREA-SCA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Italy.
  • Angelo Fiore CREA-SCA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Italy.
  • Mariangela Diacono Veneto Agricoltura, Regional Agency for the agricultural, forestry and agri-food sector, Italy.
  • Francesca Chiarini Veneto Agricoltura, Regional Agency for the agricultural, forestry and agri-food sector, Italy.
  • Francesco Fracasso Veneto Agricoltura, Regional Agency for the agricultural, forestry and agri-food sector, Italy.
  • Erica Sartori Veneto Agricoltura, Regional Agency for the agricultural, forestry and agri-food sector, Italy.
  • Antonio Barbieri Veneto Agricoltura, Azienda Regionale per i settori Agricolo, Forestale e Agro-Alimentare, Italy.
  • Francesco Fagotto Veneto Agricoltura, Regional Agency for the agricultural, forestry and agri-food sector, Italy.
  • Paolo Bazzoffi CREA-ABP, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Agrobiology and Pedology, Italy.
Within the Project MO.NA.CO. the Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance Standard 2.2 ‘Maintaining the level of soil organic matter through management of stubble and crop residues’ and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers were evaluated. The monitoring was performed in eight experimental farms of the Council for agricultural research and economics (CREA), distributed throughout Italy and with different soil and climatic conditions. Yield parameters and several components of soil organic matter were evaluated in two contrasting treatments applied to one-year rotation of winter durum wheat and maize: i) incorporation into the soil of crop residues (Factual treatment) and ii) burning or removal of crop residues (Counterfactual treatment). The application of the standard ‘crop residue management’ has showed contrasting results with differences (for yield and soil) between the two treatments resulted almost always non significant. The analysis of economic competitiveness gap showed that the CR incorporation is more expensive than CR burning or removal, but the economic disadvantage can be considered rather small and thus easily compensated by Community aids. Therefore, the soil incorporation of crop residues can be considered a ‘good agricultural practice’ that does not penalize farmers in terms of production and cost and at the same time contributes to the maintenance of fertility and soil biodiversity. On the contrary, the removal and burning of residues result in a low or no-addition of organic matter into the soil. Moreover, burning can contribute to decrease the biodiversity and to increase the risk of air pollution, fires and road accidents.

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Supporting Agencies

Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry policies (MiPAAF)

How to Cite

Ventrella, D., Virzì, N., Intrigliolo, F., Palumbo, M., Cambrea, M., Platania, A., Sciacca, F., Licciardello, S., Troccoli, A., Russo, M., Francaviglia, R., Neri, U., Falcucci, M., Simonetti, G., Masetti, O., Renzi, G., Speroni, M., Borrelli, L., Cabassi, G., Degano, L., Fuccella, R., Savi, F., Tagliabue, P., Fedrizzi, M., Fanigliulo, R., Pagano, M., Sperandio, G., Guerrieri, M., Puri, D., Montemurro, F., Vonella, V. A., Giglio, L., Fornaro, F., Castellini, M., Leogrande, R., Vitti, C., Mastrangelo, M., Fiore, A., Diacono, M., Chiarini, F., Fracasso, F., Sartori, E., Barbieri, A., Fagotto, F., & Bazzoffi, P. (2015). Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance Standard 2.1 ‘Maintaining the level of soil organic matter through management of stubble and crop residues’ and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers. Italian Journal of Agronomy, 10(s1). https://doi.org/10.4081/ija.2015.697