Analyzing the impact of the farming context and environmental factors on cropping systems: A regional case study in Burgundy

Developing cropping systems able to improve overall sustainability requires socio-economic drivers, farm features, environmental conditions and local constraints to be taken into account. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between the farming context and the cropping system (CS) and to identify the components of a production situation (PS) that drive the CS characteristics. Surveys on cropping practices in 2006 in the Burgundy region were analyzed using multivariate analysis including hierarchical clustering. Thirteen groups of CS were identified and their crop sequence and level of pesticide and fertilizer use were described. A multivariate analysis was used to study the diversity in PS according to their climate, soil, and farm features. Classification and the regression tree method (CART) identified the PS variables which were most influential on CS, and defined six groups of PS that minimized intra-group CS variability. However, this variability remained high, suggesting that differences in farmer's objectives and knowledge also contributed to differentiate cropping systems in the region studied. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.