Christine Baratte

MELODIE: a whole-farm model to study the dynamics of nutrients in dairy and pig farms with crops.

In regions of intensive pig and dairy farming, nutrient losses to the environment at farm level are a source of concern for water and air quality. Dynamic models are useful tools to evaluate the effects of production strategies on nutrient flows and losses to the environment. This paper presents the development of a new whole-farm model upscaling dynamic models developed at the field or animal scale. The model, called MELODIE, is based on an original structure with interacting biotechnical and decisional modules. Indeed, it is supported by an ontology of production systems and the associated programming platform DIESE. The biotechnical module simulates the nutrient flows in the different animal, soil and crops and manure sub-models. The decision module relies on an annual optimization of cropping and spreading allocation plans, and on the flexible execution of activity plans for each simulated year. These plans are examined every day by an operational management sub-model and their application is context dependent. As a result, MELODIE dynamically simulates the flows of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, copper, zinc and water within the whole farm over the short and long-term considering both the farming system and its adaptation to climatic conditions. Therefore, it is possible to study both the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the environmental risks, and to test changes of practices and innovative scenarios. This is illustrated with one example of simulation plan on dairy farms to interpret the Nitrogen farm-gate budget indicator. It shows that this indicator is able to reflect small differences in Nitrogen losses between different systems, but it can only be interpreted using a mobile average, not on a yearly basis. This example illustrates how MELODIE could be used to study the dynamic behaviour of the system and the dynamic of nutrient flows. Finally, MELODIE can also be used for comprehensive multi-criterion assessments, and it also constitutes a generic and evolving framework for virtual experimentation on animal farming systems.

A whole farm-model to simulate the environmental impacts of animal farming system: Melodie

The ex ante environmental evaluation of farming systems is increasingly demanded when proposing new developments of animal farming systems. Modelling is a promising approach to reduce the cost and the delay in studying the relationship between farming management and risky emissions. The simulation of decision is essential to better analyze ex ante changes in farm management, but is rarely considered in environmental models. MELODIE simulates the flows of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, copper, zinc and water within the whole pig and dairy farm over the long term. MELODIE upscales dynamic models developed at the field or animal scale by considering the management of the whole farm system coherently with the livestock farming system. The model is structured according to an ontology of agricultural production systems to represent the interactions between the biotechnical system and the decision system. The biotechnical module simulates the nutrient flows at a daily time step for each entity of the sub-models (soil/crop, animal and manure processes). MELODIE represents decisions at two time scales: every year, for drawing annual activity plans and every day for the context-dependent application of this plan. Thanks to the interactions between the biotechnical system and the decision system at different time scales, MELODIE is able to run consistently under different long-term climate series. The goal is to study the emerging properties of the system. Besides, because the nutrient flows within the farm are dynamically simulated, it is possible to study both the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the environmental risks. This approach enables a better understanding of variability in the farming system according to climate. MELODIE is intended for use in research, not as a decision support system for farm management. It is a framework for virtual experimentation on animal farming systems, and could be extended to deal with other issues than nutrient flows.