Energy flows in European organic vegetable systems: effects of the introduction and management of agroecological service crops

Reducing inputs by promoting the recycling of energy within a cropping system is one of the principles of organic farming. To this end, the introduction and proper management of agroecological service crops (ASC) can play a key role. Few studies have analysed the effect of ASC introduction and compared energy flows under green manure (ASC-GM) and no-till roller crimper (ASC-NT) management. Moreover, current energy flows studies do not account for all the sources of energy that could be recycled within a cropping system, and none of them have evaluated the efficiency of cropping systems for recycling energy.