Conservation agriculture effects and policy support to mitigate soil degradation in Midi-Pyrénées (France)

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Prosperi ◽  
J. M. Terres ◽  
S. Doublet ◽  
P. Pointereau
Keyword(s):  
Soil Degradation ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Policy Support

Agroecology-based aggradation-conservation agriculture (ABACO): Targeting innovations to combat soil degradation and food insecurity in semi-arid Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 132 ◽  
pp. 168-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Tittonell ◽  
E. Scopel ◽  
N. Andrieu ◽  
H. Posthumus ◽  
P. Mapfumo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Soil Degradation ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Semi Arid

scholarly journals Conservation Agriculture Mitigates the Effects of Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 122-132
Author(s):  
Tika Bahadur Karki ◽  
Pankaj Gyawaly
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Nutrient Status ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Conventional Agriculture ◽  
Agricultural Research Council ◽  
Public And Private Sector

Intensive tillage based conventional agriculture have high global warming potential. Alternative to this, conservation agriculture (CA) systems utilize soils for the production of crops by reducing excessive tillage, maintaining crop residue on the soil surface, and adoption of crop rotations. The paper attempts to review the findings of CA based experiments under different cropping systems within and outside of the country. It has been found that CA increases and sustains the crop productivities, mitigates green house gas emissions from agriculture by enhancing soil carbon sequestration, improving soil nutrient status and water use efficiencies, and reducing fuel consumption. Mainstreaming of CA systems in Nepal is hindered by its knowledge gap, inadequate farm machineries and tools, small holdings, poor infrastructures, and lack of CA friendly policy support. Therefore, there is an urgent need to test, verify and scale-out the CA based technologies by Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) across the different agro-ecologies through farmer-centered partnership among the international institutions, public and private sector of Nepal.  

Economic and yield comparisons of different crop and crop-pasture production systems.

2022 ◽  
pp. 206-214
Author(s):  
Johann A. Strauss
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Pasture Production ◽  
Gross Margins

Abstract Over the past 15 years the adoption rate of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in southern South Africa has increased at a fast rate, although the adoption of the three pillars of CA was to varying degrees. The adoption of CA happened in the absence of any policy support framework directed to CA. The market drove the adaptation rate with a handful of local producers being the first to adopt no-till (NT) strategies. Long-term field experiments demonstrate that the effects of crop rotation include increased yields from the main wheat crop so that two-thirds of the present total wheat production may be achieved with only half the cropped area under the main crop, and gross margins are better - and dramatically better - with integration of cropping and livestock. This chapter presents an overview of the benefits to yield and economic sustainability of including alternative cash and pasture crops into CA farming systems in the winter rainfall region of southern South Africa.

Institutional and policy support for Conservation Agriculture uptake

2020 ◽  
pp. 513-564
Author(s):  
Tom Goddard ◽  
◽  
Gottlieb Basch ◽  
Rolf Derpsh ◽  
Li Hongwen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Policy Support

scholarly journals Review on Conservation Agriculture in Ethiopia: Status of Application, Opportunities and Challenges

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Abdissa Bekele ◽  
◽  
Abdissa Abebe ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Cropping System ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Wide Scale ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
Implementation Status

Conservation agriculture has been considered as the potential not only to increase the sustainability of agricultural productivity, but also to help works toward mitigation and adaption of climate change. Farming and soil management practices included in conservation agriculture are based on three core principles, which must be fulfilled concomitantly Minimum soil disturbance, Maintenance of permanent soil covers and Cropping system diversity, crop rotations. The objective of this document is therefore to review the implementation status, opportunities, challenges and limitation of conservation agriculture practices in Ethiopia. Conservation agriculture has economic as well as climatic advantages. The soil conservation practices, including minimum or no tillage have long been practiced by farmers with different approaches or systems in Ethiopia, conservation agriculture and its associated package of best practices were introduced in 1998. Presence of traditional practices contributing for conservation agriculture principle and socioeconomic and extension facilities are some of factors affecting adoption of conservation agriculture in Ethiopia while, Climate change prevention activities and untapped opportunity for the wide-scale promotion are some opportunities for adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Ethiopia. The principal goal of climate smart agriculture is identified as food security and development, while productivity, adaptation, and mitigation are identified as the three interlinked pillars necessary for achieving this goal. Key challenge with mainstreaming conservation agriculture systems relate to problems with up-scaling which is largely due to the lack of knowledge, expertise, inputs (especially equipment and machinery), adequate financial resources and infrastructure, and poor policy support.

scholarly journals Carbon Sequestration to Avoid Soil Degradation: A Review on the Role of Conservation Tillage

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 2001
Author(s):  
Sadam Hussain ◽  
Saddam Hussain ◽  
Ru Guo ◽  
Muhammad Sarwar ◽  
Xiaolong Ren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Degradation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Conservation Tillage ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Conventional Tillage ◽  
Progressive Increase ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation

Human efforts to produce more food for increasing populations leave marks on the environment. The use of conventional agricultural practices, including intensive tillage based on the removal of crop residue, has magnified soil erosion and soil degradation. In recent years, the progressive increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) has created global interest in identifying different sustainable strategies in order to reduce their concentration in the atmosphere. Carbon stored in soil is 2–4 times higher than that stored in the atmosphere and four times more when compared to carbon stored in the vegetation. The process of carbon sequestration (CS) involves transferring CO2 from the atmosphere into the soil or storage of other forms of carbon to either defer or mitigate global warming and avoid dangerous climate change. The present review discusses the potential of soils in sequestering carbon and mitigating the accelerated greenhouse effects by adopting different agricultural management practices. A significant amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) could be sequestered by conversion of conventional tillage to conservation tillage. The most important aspect of conservation agriculture is thought to improve plant growth and soil health without damaging the environment. In the processes of climate change mitigation and adaptation, zero tillage has been found to be the most eco-friendly method among different tillage techniques. No-till practice is considered to enable sustainable cropping intensification to meet future agricultural demands. Although no-tillage suggests merely the absence of tillage, in reality, several components need to be applied to a conservation agriculture system to guarantee higher or equal yields and better environmental performance than conventional tillage systems.

Use of soil and climate data to assess the risk of agricultural drought for policy support in Europe

Agronomie ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pandi Zdruli ◽  
Robert J.A. Jones ◽  
Luca Montanarella
Keyword(s):  
Policy Support ◽  
Agricultural Drought ◽  
Climate Data

Ukrainian Chernozem Fertility Reproduction under Soil Conservation Agriculture

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-79
Author(s):  
Yu. Kravchenko
Keyword(s):  
Soil Conservation ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
Cultivated Plants ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Typical Chernozem ◽  
Degradation Processes ◽  
Biological Potential

In Ukraine 57.5 % of agricultural land is subjected to erosion with 10–24 million tons of humus, 0.3–0.96 million tons of nitrogen, 0.7–0.9 million tons of phosphorus and 6–12 million tons of potassium lost annually. Degradation processes are also common on chernozems, which cover about 60 % of the Ukrainian territory. The aim of the research is to defi ne the most eff ective soil conservation practices and legislative decisions aimed to conservation/recovering the Ukrainian chernozem fertility. The experimental data of the agrochemical certifi cation of Ukrainian lands, data from scientifi c papers, stock and instructional materials as well as our own fi eld and laboratory studies were used. It has been established that the long-term use of deep subsurface tillage on typical chernozem increases, compared with plowing, the content of 10–0.25 mm of air-dry and water-resistant aggregates, the bulk density, soil water storages, water infi ltration rates, the content of mobile phosphorus and exchangeable potassium, pHH2O, CaCO3 stocks, the contents of humic and fulvic acids, molecular weights of humic acids – by 5.5 and 3.06 %; 0.05 g/cm3; 25.5 mm; 22.6 mm/h; 0.1 and 3 mg/100 g of soil; 0.03 pHH2O; 18 t/ha, 0.02 and 0.04 %, 91195 kDa, respectively. Fertilizers may contribute to the crop yields increase from by 60% in the Polissya, by 40 % – in the Forest Steppe, by 15 % – in the Wet Steppe, by 10 % – in the Dry Steppe and by 40 % – in the Irrigated Steppe areas. In soil-conservation rotations, the crop placement and alternation are advisable to combine with strips or hills sowing, taking into account the local relief features; soil alkalinization, applying anti-erosion structures. Ukrainian agriculture will receive additional 10–12 million tons of forage units or 20–22 % from all fodder in a fi eld agriculture under increasing 8–10 % of arable lands for intercrops. It is advisable to mulch the eroded chernozems of Ukraine depending on their texture composition: 1.3 t/ha of mulch for sandy and loamy soils, 1.9 t/ha – for sandy and 1.1 t/ha – for loamy soils. The implementation of soil conservation agriculture can minimize some soil degradation processes and improve eff ective soil properties required to realize the biological potential of cultivated plants. Key words: chernozem, degradation, fertility, soil conservation technologies, agriculture policy.

Renewable Energy on Tribal Lands: A Feasibility Study for a Biomass-to-Energy Plant on the Cocopah Reservation in Arizona

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Lauren K. D’Souza ◽  
William L. Ascher ◽  
Tanja Srebotnjak
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biomass Energy ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Energy Plant ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Alternative Investment

Native American reservations are among the most economically disadvantaged regions in the United States; lacking access to economic and educational opportunities that are exacerbated by “energy insecurity” due to insufficient connectivity to the electric grid and power outages. Local renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass offer energy alternatives but their implementation encounters barriers such as lack of financing, infrastructure, and expertise, as well as divergent attitudes among tribal leaders. Biomass, in particular, could be a source of stable base-load power that is abundant and scalable in many rural communities. This case study examines the feasibility of a biomass energy plant on the Cocopah reservation in southwestern Arizona. It considers feedstock availability, cost and energy content, technology options, nameplate capacity, discount and interest rates, construction, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, and alternative investment options. This study finds that at current electricity prices and based on typical costs for fuel, O&M over 30 years, none of the tested scenarios is presently cost-effective on a net present value (NPV) basis when compared with an alternative investment yielding annual returns of 3% or higher. The technology most likely to be economically viable and suitable for remote, rural contexts—a combustion stoker—resulted in a levelized costs of energy (LCOE) ranging from US$0.056 to 0.147/kWh. The most favorable scenario is a combustion stoker with an estimated NPV of US$4,791,243. The NPV of the corresponding alternative investment is US$7,123,380. However, if the tribes were able to secure a zero-interest loan to finance the plant’s installation cost, the project would be on par with the alternative investment. Even if this were the case, the scenario still relies on some of the most optimistic assumptions for the biomass-to-power plant and excludes abatement costs for air emissions. The study thus concludes that at present small-scale, biomass-to-energy projects require a mix of favorable market and local conditions as well as appropriate policy support to make biomass energy projects a cost-competitive source of stable, alternative energy for remote rural tribal communities that can provide greater tribal sovereignty and economic opportunities.

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