Conservation Agriculture:

Transcription

1 Conservation Agriculture: Its deliverables for effective Soil Conservation and comments on the SoCo findings Gottlieb Basch Soil threats: Erosion Decline in organic matter Soil contamination Soil sealing Soil compaction Decline in soil biodiversity Salinisation Floods and landslides

2 What is CAP looking for? Protection of soil, water, air, biodiversity, etc. Reasonable farm income Landscape management Globalization of agricultural markets Competitiveness of European agriculture Reduction of subsidies High quality products at acceptable prices Bio-energy crops Maybe something like this?

3 Conservation Agriculture: A concept to combine Natural conditions & Agricultural production Conservation Agriculture Soil Protection & Soil Fertility Soil Organic Carbon minimum / no soil disturbance plant diversity/ crop rotations continuous cover residues/cover crop

4 Minimum soil disturbance Cover crops Residues Cover crops and residues Diversified crop rotations to minimize dependence on inputs

5 Soil threats: Erosion Decline in organic matter Soil contamination Soil sealing Soil compaction Decline in soil biodiversity Salinisation Floods and landslides Erosion

6 Rilling Compaction/ capping => Soil erosion Runoff Sheet erosion

7 Soil tillage hides but also favours soil erosion Former soil surface

8 Can you imagine this to happen on fields managed and crops established like this? The same field, the same slope, the same crop! Traditional Tillage No till into residues

9 Decline in organic matter What you see is dust, what you don t see is the CO 2 released by any type of soil tillage

10 Evolution of Soil Organic Matter in a conventionally tilled soil (Jim Kinsella, 1995) % Change Years of cultivation Soil Organic Matter under Trad. Tillage (TT) and No-till on a Vertisol after 6 years of NT 3 NT TT Organic Matter (%) 2,5 2 1, Soil depth (cm)

11 Soil compaction Over loosening?

12 Repacking But underneath? 10cm 25cm 30cm

13 But underneath? Heavy load of harvest machines can lead to soil compaction and in consequence to reduced water infiltration. But the fundamental cause is the insufficient bearing capacity of the soil

14 Decline in soil biodiversity Good agricultural and environmental practise What about biodiversity?

15 Soil sterilization in organic farming Width: 4m Speed: 26 40m/h Fuel consumption: 1000 l 8h 1 What about biodiversity and CO 2 emissions? Biodiversity aboveground: No till field

16 Biodiversity aboveground: No till field Biodiversity aboveground: No till field

17 Biodiversity belowground: Earthworms as indicator Effect of cultivation intensity on earthworm population (per m2) Plough No till Conservation Tillage Floods and landslides

18 Inevitable??? Inevitable???

19 Inevitable??? Evitable, doing like this!

20 Evitable, doing like this! Soil Soil conservation &Sustainability management

21 Crop Yields, Profitability & Competitiveness Biodiversity & Beautiful landscape Conservation Agriculture Soil Fertility & Carbon sequestration Less surface runoff & Floods Less soil erosion & Soil Compaction ECAF s comments on SoCo findings Section: Nature, localisation and magnitude of soil degradation related to agriculture The major driver for water erosion are intense rainfall, topography, low soil organic matter content, percentage and type of vegetation cover and land marginalization and abandonment. What about soil disturbance? What about over stocking? Why land marginalization and abandonment?

22 ECAF s comments on SoCo findings The climate factor explains the existence of a north south climatic gradient, with high soil organic carbon levels in the colder humid northern part of Europe and in mountainous areas, and lower levels in the warmer semi arid southern part. The model results show that agricultural soils in Europe have very different actual soil organic carbon levels and are subject to different risk levels of soil organic carbon decline. What about agriculture practices? Land use does not necessarily induce SOM decline Soil tillage enhances SOM mineralization under warmer conditions ECAF s comments on SoCo findings Maintaining and optimizing organic carbon levels (as a specific objective of land management) is important in contributing to climate change mitigation. Correct, but no suggestions on how to increase The natural susceptibility of soils to compaction mainly depends on soil texture, with sandy soils being least and clayey soils being most susceptible. Does not agree with common understanding

23 ECAF s comments on SoCo findings Section: Relevant farming practices for soil protection, conservation and improvement, their uptake and related environmental objectives Similarly, consumption of fuel can realistically drop by % and % for reduced tillage and no tillage respectively. Figures unrealistic (49 l/ha for PT vs l/ha for NT) Organic farming, although different from conservation agriculture, has similar positive effects on soil organic carbon content and soil biodiversity. If based on CA principles, or high external OM inputs ECAF s comments on SoCo findings Section: Relevant farming practices for soil protection, conservation and improvement, their uptake and related environmental objectives Sub soiling involves loosening deep hardpans in soils, thereby improving the soil's infiltration rate and root penetration. Man made/machinery induced compaction Buffer strips can significantly reduce (by %) the volume of suspended solids, nitrates and phosphates transported by agricultural run off to water bodies. Do not prevent their runoff from arable land

24 ECAF s comments on SoCo findings Section: Review of the regulatory environment and policy instruments that address conservation agriculture and soil conservation practices Suggestion to strengthen mechanisms and initiatives at members state level through: Effective knowledge and technology transfer using scientific and practical expertise from a range of climatic regions across Europe Extension of incentive led programmes for conservation agriculture under existing agro environmental measures

25 ECAF s comments on SoCo findings Section: Review of the regulatory environment and policy instruments that address conservation agriculture and soil conservation practices Suggestion to strengthen mechanisms and initiatives at members state level through: Establishment of long term research projects with continuous conservation agriculture systems at both farm and research level with special focus on crop rotation, cover crops and plant protection measures Strengthening of farm extension services with specialized conservation agriculture advisers skilled in farmer to farmer knowledge transfer resulting in a multiplier effect in the sector Establishment of a market for carbon credit trading based on soil carbon sequestration