Energy productivity of technological agriculture-lessons from the transition of Swedish agriculture

In accordance with the bulk of published studies it seems widely accepted t hat energy productivity in modern intensive agriculture is decreasing and t hat primary emphasis should be on decreasing the use of fossil energy. A co mprehensive comparison of three development stages in the transition of con ventional Swedish agriculture (from 1956 to 1993) indicates that such concl usions should be questioned. This study of Swedish agriculture suggests that the potential of convention al agriculture to bind solar energy creates a much larger effect on energy flows than savings on inputs. It is also suggested that earlier studies of energy in agriculture have not only taken an inappropriate account of techn ological development but also miscalculated the links between used technolo gy and the possibilities of energy crops. The fact that high input agricult ure requires much less land per unit of output is taken as a basis for usin g the opportunity cost principles of economics to re-evaluate the energy an d environmental performance of high input agriculture. The present study illustrates how both energy productivity and potentials f or a better consideration of important environmental factors of a technolog ical agriculture may be underestimated. The biggest challenge seems to be t o aim for a better understanding of further developments of a technological agriculture for food production considering the environment, the use of 's urplus' land for energy crops and schemes for increased biodiversity. The r esults of this study should mainly be relevant for parts of agriculture in Europe and North America. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve d.