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November 20, 2023
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Article

Assessing the energy trap of industrial agriculture in North America and Europe: 82 balances from 1830 to 2012

Publicated to: Agronomy For Sustainable Development. 43 (6): 75- - 2023-12-01 43(6), DOI: 10.1007/s13593-023-00925-5

Authors:

Tello, E; Sacristán, V; Olarieta, JR; Cattaneo, C; Marull, J; Pons, M; Gingrich, S; Krausmann, F; Galán, E; Marco, I; Padró, R; Guzmán, GI; de Molina, MG; Cunfer, G; Watson, A; Macfadyen, J; Franková, E; Aguilera, E; Infante-Amate, J; Urrego-Mesa, A; Soto, D; Parcerisas, L; Dupras, J; Díez-Sanjuán, L; Caravaca, J; Gómez, L; Fullana, O; Murray, I; Jover, G; Cussó, X; Garrabou, R
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Affiliations

Autonomous Univ Barcelona, Barcelona Inst Reg & Metropolitan Studies, Bellaterra, Spain - Author
Autonomous Univ Barcelona, Dept Econ & Econ Hist, Econ & Business, Bellaterra, Spain - Author
BC3 Basque Centre for Climate Change - Author
BOKU Univ Nat Resources & Life Sci, Inst Social Ecol, Vienna, Austria - Author
Centro de Estudios e Investigacion para la Gestion de Riesgos Agrarios y Medioambientales - Author
Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales - Author
Generalitat de Catalunya - Author
Govt Catalonia, Dept Climate Act Food & Rural Agenda, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Independent Researcher - Author
Marianopolis Coll, Dept Social Sci & Commerce, Montreal, PQ, Canada - Author
Marianopolis College - Author
Masaryk Univ, Fac Social Studies, Dept Environm Studies, Brno, Czech Republic - Author
Masaryk University - Author
Pablo de Olavide Univ, Agroecosystems Hist Lab, Utrera Rd, Seville, Spain - Author
Polytech Univ Madrid UPM, Res Ctr Management Agr & Environm Risks CEIGRAM, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Balearic Isl, Dept Geog, Valldemossa Rd, Mallorca, Spain - Author
Univ Barcelona, Inst & Policy & World Econ, Dept Econ Hist, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Basque Country, Basque Ctr Climate Change, Sci Campus, Leioa, Spain - Author
Univ Girona, Dept Econ, Fac Econ & Business, Girona, Spain - Author
Univ Granada, Fac Econ & Business Sci, Dept Econ Theory & Econ Hist, Granada, Spain - Author
Univ Lleida, Sch Agr Engn, Dept Environm & Soil Sci, Lleida, Spain - Author
Univ Nat Resources & Life Sci BOKU, Div Organ Farming, Vienna, Austria - Author
Univ Politecn Cataluna, Dept Matematiques, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Prince Edward Isl, Fac Arts, 550 Univ Ave, Charlottetown, PE, Canada - Author
Univ Quebec Outaouais, Inst Sci Foret Temperee, Gatineau, PQ, Canada - Author
Univ Santiago de Compostela, Fac Econ & Business, Dept Appl Econ, Santiago De Compostela, Spain - Author
Univ Saskatchewan, Coll Arts & Sci, Dept Hist, Saskatoon, SK, Canada - Author
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela - Author
Universidad Pablo de Olavide, de Sevilla - Author
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona - Author
Universitat de Barcelona - Author
Universitat de Girona - Author
Universitat de les Illes Balears - Author
Universitat de Lleida - Author
Universitat fur Bodenkultur Wien - Author
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - Author
Université du Québec en Outaouais - Author
University of Prince Edward Island - Author
University of Saskatchewan - Author
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Abstract

Early energy analyses of agriculture revealed that behind higher labor and land productivity of industrial farming, there was a decrease in energy returns on energy (EROI) invested, in comparison to more traditional organic agricultural systems. Studies on recent trends show that efficiency gains in production and use of inputs have again somewhat improved energy returns. However, most of these agricultural energy studies have focused only on external inputs at the crop level, concealing the important role of internal biomass flows that livestock and forestry recirculate within agroecosystems. Here, we synthesize the results of 82 farm systems in North America and Europe from 1830 to 2012 that for the first time show the changing energy profiles of agroecosystems, including livestock and forestry, with a multi-EROI approach that accounts for the energy returns on external inputs, on internal biomass reuses, and on all inputs invested. With this historical circular bioeconomic approach, we found a general trend towards much lower external returns, little or no increases in internal returns, and almost no improvement in total returns. This “energy trap” was driven by shifts towards a growing dependence of crop production on fossil-fueled external inputs, much more intensive livestock production based on feed grains, less forestry, and a structural disintegration of agroecosystem components by increasingly linear industrial farm managements. We conclude that overcoming the energy trap requires nature-based solutions to reduce current dependence on fossil-fueled external industrial inputs and increase the circularity and complexity of agroecosystems to provide healthier diets with less animal products.
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Keywords

agroecosystemcircularitydietary transitionecosystem serviceseroi (energy return on energy investment)farm systemsfood systemsforest transitionfossil energynutrient balancesorganic agriculturepreindustrial agriculturesocial metabolismsocioecological transitionvalles countyAgricultural systemsAgroecosystemCircularityDietary transitionEroi (energy return on energy investment)Forest transitionSocioecological transitionSoil fertility

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Agronomy For Sustainable Development due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2023, it was in position 2/126, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Agronomy. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.44. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 1.54 (source consulted: FECYT Mar 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-12-21, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 6
  • Scopus: 8
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-12-21:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 38.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 32 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 4 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Austria; Canada; Czech Republic; Czechoslovakia.

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