Introduction and Overview › Glossary for the Networking Language · 7 min read
Energy is the prerequisite for performing work, producing food, moving materials, and sustaining life.
In agriculture, energy appears in many different forms:
Agriculture is therefore always an energy system.
It absorbs energy, transforms it, stores it in soils, plants, and animals, and releases it in the form of food, biomass, heat, and other outputs.
When we talk about agriculture’s energy needs, diesel consumption and electricity are often the focus.
However, the actual energy input is greater.
The production of machinery, irrigation systems, greenhouses, batteries, fertilizers, building materials, and digital technology also requires energy.
This upstream energy expenditure is often referred to as embodied energy.
A comprehensive assessment therefore includes at least:
An electric machine may operate with low emissions at the point of use.
However, its production, power supply, storage, maintenance, and eventual disposal remain part of its energy system.
Plants capture solar energy and convert it into biomass through photosynthesis.
This biomass can:
An agricultural area is therefore not just a production site.
It is a living place of energy absorption, conversion, and storage.
The key question is not only:
How much yield is produced?
But also:
How much additional energy was required to produce this yield?
A simple energy assessment compares two quantities:
How much energy is introduced into the agricultural system?
This may include:
How much usable energy leaves the system?
This may include:
For food, the energy output can be approximated using its physiological energy value in kilojoules.
The following applies:
1 kilocalorie is approximately 4.184 kilojoules.
Electrical energy can also be converted:
1 kilowatt-hour equals 3,600 kilojoules. These conversions follow standard SI and energy units (Source: EIA Conversion Tables (external)).
The following example is not an assessment of a specific farm.
It merely illustrates how an energy balance can be structured.
A potato cultivation on one hectare is assumed.
The contained food energy is:
40,000 kg × 770 kcal/kg × 4.184 kJ/kcal
= 128,867,200 kJ
The assumed yield thus contains approximately:
128.9 million kilojoules of food energy per hectare.
For the simplified example, the following are assumed:
For diesel, this example assumes an energy content of 38.6 megajoules per liter.
Diesel:
70 l × 38,600 kJ/l
= 2,702,000 kJ
Electricity:
150 kWh × 3,600 kJ/kWh
= 540,000 kJ
Embodied energy:
= 4,000,000 kJ
Total energy input:
2,702,000 kJ
+ 540,000 kJ
+ 4,000,000 kJ
= 7,242,000 kJ
128,867,200 kJ harvest energy
÷ 7,242,000 kJ energy input
= approximately 17.8
In this simplified example, 17.8 units of edible harvest energy are produced per unit of energy input.
One hectare comprises 10,000 square meters.
100 square meters therefore correspond to one hundredth of a hectare.
Harvest:
400 kg of potatoes
= approximately 1,288,672 kJ of food energy
Energy input:
approximately 72,420 kJ
Energy ratio:
1,288,672 kJ
÷ 72,420 kJ
= approximately 17.8
The ratio remains the same as long as all inputs are proportionally transferred to the smaller area.
Such a calculation can be helpful.
However, it does not reflect the full quality of agriculture.
A high energy output does not indicate:
Agriculture can be energetically efficient and ecologically destructive at the same time.
Conversely, a regenerative measure may initially require additional energy but improve water balance, soil fertility, and yield security in the long term.
The energy balance is therefore an important tool but never the only evaluation criterion.
Every energy balance depends on what is included.
A narrow balance may only consider diesel consumption in the field.
A more comprehensive balance also accounts for:
The broader the system boundary, the more complete the picture.
Comparisons are only meaningful if the same system boundaries are used for all methods examined.
Human labor also requires energy.
Humans obtain this energy through food and convert it directly into movement, perception, experience, and decisions.
When human labor is replaced by machines or robots, the human energy requirement does not disappear entirely.
People must still live and be provided for.
Additionally, the machine requires:
Automation can make work easier and certain processes more efficient.
However, it can also create an additional energy pathway if human or biological functions are replaced without the original human energy requirement actually being eliminated.
This raises the question: What additional energy is needed when robotics replaces physical agricultural work—and the people outside this work must still be provided for?
This question is also relevant for vegan and biocyclic-vegan agriculture.
In certain landscapes, animals can perform ecological functions, such as:
If animals are removed from an agricultural system, these functions must:
For example, grassland without grazing animals can be mowed.
The cut material can then be transported, processed, composted, or spread as mulch.
These processes require machinery, fuel or electricity, working time, and infrastructure.
This does not mean that vegan agriculture is inherently energetically unfavorable.
On arable and vegetable farms, it can function very well depending on location, design, and circular management.
The decisive question is:
Which functions are necessary at this location, and what is the complete energy and resource input of the respective solution?
Therefore, we should not evaluate a method solely based on its name.
We must consider it in the context of the specific landscape and its actual energy, material, and life processes.
Technical efficiency often describes how much usable work is obtained from a given amount of energy.
This perspective is insufficient for agriculture.
Regenerative energy efficiency also asks:
A system is not efficient merely because a machine works quickly.
It is efficient if it produces food sustainably with as little external energy as possible while strengthening its own foundations for life.
At TEIKEI, we do not view energy in isolation.
It is part of a context that includes:
The question is therefore not:
Human or machine?
Nor is it:
Animals or no animals?
The key questions are:
A good agricultural method does not just produce as much yield as possible.
It designs the relationship between energy input, food production, and regenerated foundations for life in a way that ensures future harvests remain possible.
For further evaluation, various metrics can be used:
Total energy input in kJ
÷ cultivated area
Edible harvest in kg
× energy content in kJ/kg
÷ area
Harvest energy
÷ energy input
Energy supplied from outside
÷ total energy input
A metric yet to be developed to assess what proportion of the energy input simultaneously strengthens soil, water balance, biodiversity, and future production capacity.
Agriculture produces food by converting energy.
Its quality is not only reflected in how much harvest is produced but also in how much external energy is required and whether the natural prerequisites for future harvests are strengthened or depleted.
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By the TEIKEI editorial team, with AI support (ChatGPT)
Created on July 10, 2026 · Last updated on October 10, 2026
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