IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/bioerq/v1y2016i2d10.1007_s41247-016-0010-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Farm as a Thermodynamic System: Implications of the Maximum Power Principle

Author

Listed:
  • Carl F. Jordan

    (University of Georgia)

Abstract

A farm can be considered a thermodynamic system that uses exosomatic energy (fertilizers and pesticides) to facilitate crop yield derived from endosomatic (photosynthetically derived) energy. Because farms are thermodynamic systems, they are subject to the Maximum Power Principle. This means that farmers can maximize yield to increase economic competitiveness or maximize exosomatic energy use efficiency to minimize pollution, but they cannot do both at the same time. To maintain competitiveness, farmers usually choose to maximize yield, a decision that often results in degradation of the environmental commons. Farms are self-organizing systems in that yield is converted to dollars, some of which the farmer uses to manage cropping systems embedded in the farming system. If management of an industrial cropping system is modified to use nature’s services, energy use efficiency of the farm increases and pollution is reduced.

Suggested Citation

  • Carl F. Jordan, 2016. "The Farm as a Thermodynamic System: Implications of the Maximum Power Principle," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:bioerq:v:1:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s41247-016-0010-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s41247-016-0010-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41247-016-0010-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41247-016-0010-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schramski, J.R. & Jacobsen, K.L. & Smith, T.W. & Williams, M.A. & Thompson, T.M., 2013. "Energy as a potential systems-level indicator of sustainability in organic agriculture: Case study model of a diversified, organic vegetable production system," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 267(C), pages 102-114.
    2. de Ponti, Tomek & Rijk, Bert & van Ittersum, Martin K., 2012. "The crop yield gap between organic and conventional agriculture," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 1-9.
    3. Louise O. Fresco, 2015. "Hamburgers in Paradise: The Stories behind the Food We Eat," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10545.
    4. Refsgaard, Karen & Halberg, Niels & Kristensen, Erik Steen, 1998. "Energy utilization in crop and dairy production in organic and conventional livestock production systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 57(4), pages 599-630, August.
    5. Verena Seufert & Navin Ramankutty & Jonathan A. Foley, 2012. "Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture," Nature, Nature, vol. 485(7397), pages 229-232, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zeke Marshall & Paul E. Brockway, 2020. "A Net Energy Analysis of the Global Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fishing and Forestry System," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 1-27, June.
    2. Jordan, Carl F., 2019. "Energy Flow and Feedback Control in Ecological and Economic Food Systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 91-97.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hung-Chun Lin & Yasuhiro Fukushima, 2016. "Rice Cultivation Methods and Their Sustainability Aspects: Organic and Conventional Rice Production in Industrialized Tropical Monsoon Asia with a Dual Cropping System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-23, June.
    2. Nesar Ahmed & Shirley Thompson & Giovanni M. Turchini, 2020. "Organic aquaculture productivity, environmental sustainability, and food security: insights from organic agriculture," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(6), pages 1253-1267, December.
    3. de la Cruz, Vera Ysabel V. & Tantriani, & Cheng, Weiguo & Tawaraya, Keitaro, 2023. "Yield gap between organic and conventional farming systems across climate types and sub-types: A meta-analysis," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    4. Bang, Rasmus & Hansen, Bjørn Gunnar & Guajardo, Mario & Sommerseth, Jon Kristian & Flaten, Ola & Asheim, Leif Jarle, 2024. "Conventional or organic cattle farming? Trade-offs between crop yield, livestock capacity, organic premiums, and government payments," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    5. Natalia Brzezina & Birgit Kopainsky & Erik Mathijs, 2016. "Can Organic Farming Reduce Vulnerabilities and Enhance the Resilience of the European Food System? A Critical Assessment Using System Dynamics Structural Thinking Tools," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-32, September.
    6. Patrick M. Carr & Greta G. Gramig & Mark A. Liebig, 2013. "Impacts of Organic Zero Tillage Systems on Crops, Weeds, and Soil Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(7), pages 1-30, July.
    7. Marie Lassalas & Sabine Duvaleix & Laure Latruffe, 2024. "The technical and economic effects of biodiversity standards on wheat production," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 51(2), pages 275-308.
    8. Debuschewitz, Emil & Sanders, Jürn, 2021. "Bewertung der Umweltwirkungen des ökologischen Landbaus im Kontext der kontroversen wissenschaftlichen Diskurse," 61st Annual Conference, Berlin, Germany, September 22-24, 2021 317076, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    9. Mariarosaria Agostino, 2016. "Organic Agriculture, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Environmental Efficiency: An Empirical Study on OECD Countries," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(11), pages 1-78, November.
    10. Carlson, Andrea & Greene, Catherine & Raszap Skorbiansky, Sharon & Hitaj, Claudia & Ha, Kim & Cavigelli, Michel & Ferrier, Peyton & McBride, William, 2023. "U.S. Organic Production, Markets, Consumers, and Policy, 2000-21," USDA Miscellaneous 333551, United States Department of Agriculture.
    11. Mariarosaria Agostino, 2016. "Organic Agriculture, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Environmental Efficiency: An Empirical Study on OECD Countries," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(11), pages 78-95, November.
    12. Tiziano Gomiero, 2013. "Alternative Land Management Strategies and Their Impact on Soil Conservation," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-20, August.
    13. Barbieri, Pietro & Starck, Thomas & Voisin, Anne-Sophie & Nesme, Thomas, 2023. "Biological nitrogen fixation of legumes crops under organic farming as driven by cropping management: A review," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    14. Pépin, Antonin & Morel, Kevin & van der Werf, Hayo M.G., 2021. "Conventionalised vs. agroecological practices on organic vegetable farms: Investigating the influence of farm structure in a bifurcation perspective," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    15. Karin Stein-Bachinger & Moritz Reckling & Johann Bachinger & Johannes Hufnagel & Wijnand Koker & Artur Granstedt, 2015. "Ecological Recycling Agriculture to Enhance Agro-Ecosystem Services in the Baltic Sea Region: Guidelines for Implementation," Land, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-17, August.
    16. Martina Lori & Sarah Symnaczik & Paul Mäder & Gerlinde De Deyn & Andreas Gattinger, 2017. "Organic farming enhances soil microbial abundance and activity—A meta-analysis and meta-regression," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(7), pages 1-25, July.
    17. José Luis Aleixandre & José Luis Aleixandre-Tudó & Máxima Bolaños-Pizarro & Rafael Aleixandre-Benavent, 2015. "Mapping the scientific research in organic farming: a bibliometric review," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(1), pages 295-309, October.
    18. Marull, Joan & Padró, Roc & La Rota-Aguilera, María José & Pino, Joan & Giocoli, Annalisa & Cirera, Jacob & Ruiz-Forés, Núria & Coll, Francesc & Serrano-Tovar, Tarik & Velasco-Fernández, Raúl, 2023. "Modelling land use planning: Socioecological integrated analysis of metropolitan green infrastructures," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    19. Zagata, Lukas & Uhnak, Tomas & Hrabák, Jiří, 2021. "Moderately radical? Stakeholders' perspectives on societal roles and transformative potential of organic agriculture," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    20. Anglade, J. & Billen, G. & Garnier, J. & Makridis, T. & Puech, T. & Tittel, C., 2015. "Nitrogen soil surface balance of organic vs conventional cash crop farming in the Seine watershed," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 82-92.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:bioerq:v:1:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s41247-016-0010-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.