Farming Systems - Study Materials

A sustainable agriculture system should be based on minimum tillage (min-till) as tillage or cultivation in most cases leads to unavoidable soil erosion and degradation. Crucially it disturbs the soil ecosystem and its organisms.

For organic min-till (or reduced till) farming systems a cover crop can be planted which is then rolled flat or cut before planting the next crop. Min-tillage farming has recently become more popular in non-organic farming systems as it protects and conserves their soil and saves time and money. It can reduce or even eliminate the need to till fields for planting or weed control. But this system relies on herbicides for weed control. 

Features

To mimic ecosystems min-tillage needs:

• to be a permanent feature. This allows soil organisms to establish in the soil profile to its full potential and diversity and to avoid damaging the soil structure developed by the soil organisms.
  
• to cover the soil permanently with organic material. This provides shelter and protection from sun, rain, heat, cold and wind and which also provides the substrate for the soil organisms to feed on and to perform a variety of ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, water infiltration and erosion control.
  
• to have a diversity of crops. Ecosystems in very few cases are pure stands of one species. The more stable and resilient ecosystems show a high degree of diversity. In agriculture, this can be achieved either by diverse crop rotations, or by crop associations, inter-, under- or relay cropping. 
  

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has developed the concept of Conservation agriculture (http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/1a.html) to include these three elements. However it states that “external inputs such as agrochemicals and plant nutrients of mineral or organic origin are applied optimally”. So this is not organic farming.

Publications

No-till agriculture – a climate smart solution?

http://orgprints.org/20302/1/MISEREOR_no_till.pdf

Videos

Organic, no-till agroecolgy/permaculture farm suppresses insect and disease pests

No dig abundance

Living with the land 5 – No-dig gardening. 7 mins.