Optimisation of French Energy Cover Crop Production in Double Cropping Systems for On-farm Biogas Use

Double cropping systems including energy catch crop represent an innovative way to achieve the ambitious targets of the French energy transition strategy mainly for on-farm biogas use. The purpose of OPTICIVE program was to improve crop rotation management of these innovative cropping systems for food/feed and non-food use. Different parameters were assessed for farmers decision making: target yield and production costs. Both innovative cropping systems and analytic experiment were carried out to assess technical, economic and environmental parameters. From 6 to 8 tDM/ha and 125 €/tDM of complete production cost, energy catch crop production in double cropping system seem to be a good adaptation strategy for French farmers but has to be improved to decrease the high yield variability.
Proceedings of the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 27-30 May 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 40-49