Energy is an integral part of modern-day intensive farming. Almost every stage of the food value chain requires energy as an input, from the preparation of land right up to the point of consumption. On the farm, energy is consumed directly as fuel and/or electricity (for field machinery, irrigation, heating and cooling systems, and transportation, for example), and indirectly as fertilisers, chemicals, and animal feed are produced off the farm.
In intensive livestock production in particular, electricity is used for automated milking, milk storage, heating and pumping of water,
