Fertilizing Methods and Nutrient Balance at the End of Traditional Organic Agriculture in the Mediterranean Bioregion: Catalonia (Spain) in the 1860s |
| |
Authors: | Enric Tello Ramon Garrabou Xavier Cussó José Ramón Olarieta Elena Galán |
| |
Institution: | 1. Department of Economic History and Institutions, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 690, 08034, Barcelona, Spain 2. Department of Economics and Economic History, Faculty of Economics and Business Studies, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Spain 3. Department of Environment and Soil Sciences, Higher Technical School of Agrarian Engineering, University of Lleida, 25198, Lerida, Spain
|
| |
Abstract: | By reconstructing the nutrient balance of a Catalan village circa 1861–65 we examine the sustainability of organic agricultural systems in the northwest Mediterranean bioregion prior to the green revolution and the question of whether the nutrients extracted from the soil were replenished. With a population density of 59 inhabitants per square km, similar to other northern European rural areas at that time, and a lower livestock density per cropland unit, this village experienced a manure shortage. The gap was filled by other labour-intensive ways of transferring nutrients from uncultivated areas into the cropland. Key elements in this agricultural system were vineyards because they have few nutrient requirements, and woodland and scrublands as sources of relevant amounts of nutrients collected in several ways. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|