Energy Consumption in Agriculture
2024
Villalobos, Francisco J. | Testi, Luca | Villalobos, Francisco J. [0000-0002-0990-2970] | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
Agriculture requires energy in different forms and for different purposes. The energy requirement may be decomposed into a direct (consumption of fuel or electricity at the farm) and an indirect component, associated with machinery manufacture and maintenance, equipment, and inputs (fertilizers, pesticides). Energy consumption of a given tillage operation depends on the tilled depth, soil type, and water content. Primary tillage and harvesting require much more energy than secondary operations. Pressurized irrigation systems require more energy than surface systems. However, the lower pressure and energy required in drip when compared to sprinkler irrigation is partly compensated by a lower indirect component for the latter. Additional energy may be spent on improving water quality. Fertilization is often the highest energy consumer for crop production due to the manufacturing of fertilizers, in special N. When compared to the other components, human labor requires a negligible amount of energy. The energy efficiency of farming (energy captured per unit of energy consumed in all farming operations and materials) may be analyzed in terms of the inputs and outputs of energy. The latter, the captured energy in the harvested product can be estimated as the product of yield and its energy content. Energy requirements of crop rotations may be performed using CropEBal, a free Windows application.
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