Conservation Agriculture: Principles, Land Management and Ecosystem Services

Amir Kassam* and Theodor Friedrich**

*School of Agriculture, Policy and Development University of Reading, UK

**Plant Production and Protection Division (AGP) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN

www.fao.org/ag/ca

Societa Italiana di Agronomica XL Convegno Nazionale Universita degli Studi di Teeramo, 7-9 settembre 2011

Ecological Sustainability: now not a

desirable option but a necessity Economic and social sustainability

depend on it; recuperation of any damage depend on it; rehabilitation

of degradation land and ecosystems depend on it

What does this mean for agriculture and land management?

• Need to link/integrate Production with Sustainability = harnessing increase output and productivity with ecosystem services

• One new strategic goal of FAO: Sustainable Crop Production Intensification (SCPI)

• Conservation Agriculture is the core strategy of SCPI = applied sustainable agriculture, now enshrined in the FAO publication Save & Grow

● Fotos grandes. Solo arrastra una nueva imagen y pásala para átras

Path to waterfall on private property brings income to locals in the form of ecotourism Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve

provides important source of water in landscape and downstream

Windbreaks provide habitat and corridors for wildlife, control erosion

and protect livestock from wind

Shaded coffee extends wildlife habitat from reserve and reduces erosion

All fences are live rows of trees

Coffee, corn, sugar cane and other products are sold at a local cooperative

Ecoagriculture landscapes: harmonizing multiple objectives at farm, community, landscape scales

The “promised land” today: view from mount Nebo towards Jordan Valley

(suggested reading: Dirt – the erosion of civilizations by

David Montgomery)

therefore:

tillage is incompatible with sustainable

agriculture!

further promotion of tillage-based agriculture is not a wise strategy anywhere

Tillage has an unacceptable

environmental footprint

Soil

degradation/

erosion

> natural

soil

formation

= NOT

sustainable

Agricultural degradation with tillage

– Loss of organic matter

– Compaction & sealing – structure & porosity

– Erosion, water & wind

– Waterlogging, flooding & avalanches

– Agrochemical pollution

– Contamination with microorganisms

– Loss of (functional) biodiversity below and above

– Loss of soil health

– Loss of water resources, quantity & quality

– Loss of productive capacity and functions

– Loss of ecosystem goods & services

The Current Dominant Agricultural Production Paradigm

Low soil carbon farming paradigm of intensive tillage (disrupting and debilitating many important soil mediated ecosystem functions) and leaving the soil and the landscape exposed/unprotected and starved of organic matter is the root cause of our degradation (loss of soil health – soil agro-biodiversity, soil structure, compaction, runoff and erosion, and weed/pest infestation).

The Current Dominant Agricultural Production Paradigm

This is being exacerbated by: (a) applying excessive mineral fertilisers on to farm land that has been losing its ability to respond to inputs due to tillage-induced degradation, and (b) reducing or doing away with crop diversity and rotations (which were largely in place around the time of WWII).

Post-WWII agriculture policy

Reliance upon ‘new’ high yielding seeds, more intensive tillage and big machines, combined with even more chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and mono-cropping.

This became the accepted paradigm for intensification, and promoted globally -- referred to as the Green Revolution paradigm of the 50’s and 60’s.

The results ….

The Current Dominant Agricultural Production Paradigm

The above situation is leading to further

problems of increased threats from pests, diseases & weeds against which we are applying even more pesticides & herbicides & further damaging agro-biodiversity and polluting the environment.

Consequence: Large negative externalities &

unnecessary costs to farmers & society & planet

Consequences of tillage-based agriculture at any level of development

• loss of OM, porosity, aeration, biota (=decline in soil health -> collapse of

soil structure -> compaction & surface sealing -> decrease in infiltration) • water loss as runoff & soil loss as sediment • loss of time, seeds, fertilizer, pesticide (erosion, leaching) • less capacity to capture and slow release water & nutrients • less efficiency of mineral fertilizer: “The crops have become ‘addicted’ to

fertilizers” • loss of biodiversity in the ecosystem, below & above soil surface • more pest problems (breakdown of food-webs for micro-organisms and

natural pest control) • falling input efficiency & factor productivities, declining yields • reduced resilience, reduced sustainability • Poor adaptability to climate change & mitigation • Higher production costs, lower farm productivity and profit, degraded

ecosystem services

High tillage intensity causes

soil erosion: 840‘000 t / year

(PRASUHN, 2009)

TILLAGE AGRICULTURE SOME CONSEQUENCES

Tillage-induced Carbon Dioxide Loss

CO2CO2

Reicosky

Depleted water infiltration

due to soil compaction

picture: Dr. Strobel, LfA/Germany

Erosion & water pollution from tillage agriculture

silting

Soil degradation and ruoff can cause water pollution

- suspended solids

- nutrients - pesticides - microroganisms (Case study in GB)

Iguassu Falls, Brazil

Goal: To catalyze a shift towards integrated agriculture & rural land use strategies

• Sustainable, climate-resilient, diverse food production to meet rural, urban and export demand and food security needs for 9+ billion

• Sustainable biomass fuel, forest, fisheries production • Conservation and restoration of wild biodiversity • Protection of critical watershed functions • Terrestrial climate mitigation

Outcomes: • Compelling case for a new paradigm for farming & rural landscapes • Leaders and innovators mobilized • Action agendas developed and implemented

● Fotos grandes. Solo arrastra una nueva imagen y pásala para átras

Path to waterfall on private property brings income to locals in the form of ecotourism Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve

provides important source of water in landscape and downstream

Windbreaks provide habitat and corridors for wildlife, control erosion

and protect livestock from wind

Shaded coffee extends wildlife habitat from reserve and reduces erosion

All fences are live rows of trees

Coffee, corn, sugar cane and other products are sold at a local cooperative

Ecoagriculture landscapes: harmonizing multiple objectives at farm, community, landscape scales

An effective solution to degradation, and for

rehabilitation and sustainable intensification

• Minimizing soil disturbance by mechanical tillage and whenever possible, seeding or planting directly into untilled soil, in order to maintain soil organic matter, soil structure and overall soil health.

• Enhancing and maintaining organic matter cover on the soil surface, using crops, cover crops or crop residues. This protects the soil surface, conserves water and nutrients, promotes soil biological activity and contributes to integrated weed and pest management.

• Diversification of species – both annuals and perennials - in associations, sequences and rotations that can include trees, shrubs, pastures and crops, all contributing to enhanced crop nutrition and improved system resilience.

These three sets of key practices in conjunction with other complementary good crop management practices for integrated crop nutrition, pest and water management, and good quality seeds, appears to offer an entirely-appropriate solution, potentially able to slow and reverse productivity losses and environmental damages.

CA is a lead example of the agro-ecological paradigm for sustainable production intensification now adopted by FAO

A remedy: a no-till system, Conservation

Agriculture (CA)

Farming now at a dangerous point: Solution for sustainable farming has been known for a long time

FAO definition: www.fao.org/ag/ca

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is an approach to managing agro-ecosystems

for improved and sustained productivity, increased profits and food security while

preserving and enhancing the resource base & the environment. CA is characterized by three linked principles, namely:

1. Continuous minimum mechanical soil disturbance.

2. Permanent organic soil cover.

3. Diversification of crop species grown in sequences or

associations.

Once soil brought to good condition, avoid its unnecessary disturbance, and plant seeds through the mulch

Land Preparation

Conventional: regularly full tillage

CA: planting holes, ripping or mulching, direct drill

Soil health: critical!

BUT CA: more than just no-till: “never till”

• with other best practices (good seed, IPM, IPNWM, IC-LS, agro-

forestry, ...) it is sustainable agriculture and ecosystem management with reduced inputs & costs, & higher profits

• Saves 50% inputs & labour for small farmers, less drudgery, food security

• organic matter and carbon recycling

• biodiversity (rotation, soil life)

• biological processes • stops erosion, reverses degradation, aquifer recharge (bio-pores) • improved water quality • climate change adaptation and mitigation

‘SUSTAINABILITY’

”Sustainability of land’s capacities to continue yielding plant

products and water year after year depends primarily on

maintaining the soil in fit condition for active life- processes of

the whole soil/plant system. This [also] relates to the on-

going generation and re-generation of the porous soil

architecture – the soil’s ‘self-recuperation capacity’ – with

respect to repair of damaged soil and to its .. resilience in the

face of adverse shocks of weather and/or of poor

management”.

(Shaxson, Kassam, Friedrich, Boddy, Adekunle, 2008, FAO/CA website).

Managing the System which works better!

(CA decision making guide / UK, 2001)

● Fotos grandes. Solo arrastra una nueva imagen y pásala para átras

Path to waterfall on private property brings income to locals in the form of ecotourism Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve

provides important source of water in landscape and downstream

Windbreaks provide habitat and corridors for wildlife, control erosion

and protect livestock from wind

Shaded coffee extends wildlife habitat from reserve and reduces erosion

All fences are live rows of trees

Coffee, corn, sugar cane and other products are sold at a local cooperative

Ecoagriculture landscapes: harmonizing multiple objectives at farm, community, landscape scales

Diverse landscape challenges require locally-adapted solutions

Uganda Niger Kenya

Wide spectrum of integrated landscape approaches & practices - Integrated watershed management - Landscape restoration - Territorial development - Model forests

- Agricultural development corridors - Ecosystem projects - Biological corridor - Others….

Environmental Services from CA • Climate change mitigation – GHG emission

decrease, carbon sequestration, decrease in CO2 emissions from soil and fuel, N2O emission from soil, CH4 emission from soil

- Carbon offset trading scheme in Alberta

- N20 reduction scheme in Alberta

• Watershed services

- Parana Basin 3, the Itaipú Dam Programa Cultivando Água Boa

• Low carbon emission agricultural economy

- Brazil, Australia, Canada

Thank you for your attention!

More information: http://www.fao.org/ag/ca

With CA

Agriculture can be part of the solutions,

not of the problems!