Forage crops — grassland grass, forage maize, lucerne and other crops harvested green — are the leading feed resource for herbivores in France: more than 90 million tonnes of dry matter can be produced in a good year, most of it coming from grassland (natural, temporary and sown). Part of it is grazed directly by the animals, another part is mown and then conserved as hay, silage or wrapped bales; a fraction of the lucerne is dehydrated in plants to give protein-rich pellets and bales. Alongside forage, straw — a co-product of cereals, oilseeds and protein crops — represents a considerable resource (more than 60 million tonnes of dry matter produced), but most of it is never harvested: it stays in the field, either not harvestable or deliberately returned to the soil to maintain its fertility. The straw actually removed is used above all as bedding for animals, and more marginally for animal feed, anaerobic digestion, combustion or various industrial uses.
