GETTING STARTED

Changing crop management systems
Obtaining proper tools and equipment
Considering the biological processes of living soil
Adopting a new mindset for managing weeds and pests
Improving problem solving capacity in on-farm management

• Changing crop management systems
  Before starting with conservation agriculture, one should first plan a well-balanced crop rotation. The specific type of crops to be grown in this rotation will depend heavily on physical and chemical properties of the soil, including soil tilth, water holding capacity, nutrient availability and pH, among other factors. In general, any limitations affecting soil fertility should be corrected prior to converting to a strict no-till system since it will be much more difficult and time consuming to change them once the system is already in place. In highly degraded soils with low fertility, this may involve preparing the soil to alleviate compactions, liming, and using green manures and synthetic fertilizers to overcome extreme nutrient deficiencies. Upon converting to CA, soil chemical and physical properties will further improve to the point that even severely degraded soils may become productive again. An excellent example of this occurred in the Brazilian Cerrados, an area once believed to be degraded beyond the point of recovery for agricultural purposes that now is being utilized for extensive no-till agricultural production.

• Obtaining proper tools and equipment
  In order to be successful in adopting no-till farming practices, farmers must first gain access to certain new technologies, such as no-till seeders/ planters, whether they are using mechanical, animal or manual energy. Without such equipment or adequate knowledge of how and when to use it, many of the potential benefits of CA will go unrealized. This may pose a problem for some farmers who cannot afford to buy new equipment or are afraid of the economic risk of doing so. No-till service providers can help remedy this problem by making their equipment available to those who do not have it, thereby allowing resource poor and small-scale farmers to experiment with CA practices on their own fields.

• Considering the biological processes of living soil
  "Healthy" soils maintain a diverse and abundant community of soil biota that help control insect pests and other disease causing organisms, increase nutrient availability and cycling through various biochemical reactions (e.g., nitrogen fixing bacteria), and improve soil structure and porosity, which in turn enhances soil water and nutrient holding capacity. By effectively managing these biological components of the soil, overall soil health and, ultimately, crop production are significantly improved. Examples of management practices for utilizing biological activity in the soil include maintaining a permanent or semi-permanent vegetative cover and using well-balanced crop rotations to break insect pests, weed and plant disease cycles.

• Adopting a new mindset for weed and pest management
  Many farmers rely on tilling the soil regularly and spraying their fields with agrochemicals in order to prevent excessive insect damage and weed proliferation. However, these same pests often develop resistance to chemical pesticides over time and the cumulative effects of repeated tillage operations destroy soil aggregates and overall soil tilth, leading to a decline in soil porosity and aggregate stability. No-till (NT) agriculture requires farmers to adopt a new mindset toward managing these problems using integrated biological systems that have minimal impact on the environment. Changing agricultural practices poses a significant obstacle to many potential NT adopters for a variety of reasons including their satisfaction with current practices and lack of economic incentive to change as well as cultural factors and lack of knowledge and understanding of the new technologies. Extensionists must therefore be patient and willing to allow farmers to experiment with CA principles and practices on their own farms in step-by-step fashion.

• Improving problem solving capacity in on-farm management
  Adopting any new farming practice is a learning process involving new problems and complications that must be dealt with in order to enhance and sustain agricultural production over time. Farmers experimenting with conservation agriculture practices typically report initial increases in insect pest and weed problems and must therefore implement new strategies for managing these issues in order to be successful. Working with local extensionists and farmer groups is a great way to discuss and develop new strategies for overcoming biological as well as socioeconomic obstacles that prevent them from achieving the full benefits of CA technologies.

References

1. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conservation Agriculture web site -- http://www.fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/agricult/ags/AGSE/Main.htm
2. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 2003. Planting solid concepts...harvesting profitable solutions. FAO document repository.
3. Magdoff, Fred and Harold van Es. 2000. Building Soils for Better Crops. 2nd ed. Sustainable Agriculture Publications. Burlington, VT.
4. Hobbs, Peter, Raj Gupta and Craig Meisner. 2005. Conservation Agriculture in South Asia. (Submitted for publication).

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