USE OF ENERGY AND LABOR IN ITALIAN AGRICULTURE

Over the course of 4 consecutive years, an energy analysis was carried out on more than 200 representative Italian farms. The analysis was based on internationally recognized standardized methods. This paper presents the results obtained which represent 87% of Italian agriculturally used area and covers products such as cereals, industrial and vegetable crops, forage crops and fruit tree crops. Analyses were also carried out on cattle, sheep and goat breeding farms. For each sector, the analysis was broken down into direct energy use (fuel and electricity) and indirect energy incorporated in the various means of production. Consumption per hectare, specific consumption per unit at output and the employment of labour were calculated. The results obtained are comparable to those contained in the international literature. Total energy consumption proved to be 13 Mt of oil equivalent per year, 35% of which is represented by direct energy. The employment of human labour corresponds to 1·4 M full-time working units, one full-time working unit being equal to 1900 h/a. © 1992 Silsoe Research Institute.