Net effects of conservation agriculture principles on sustainable land use: A synthesis

Xiao, Liangang; Kuhn, Nikolaus J.; Zhao, Rongqin; Cao, Lianhai

doi:10.1111/gcb.15906

Cited by 38 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Tillage reduction, including no tillage or reduced tillage, represents another kind of important conservation practice that was first invented in 1930s for wind erosion control (Goudie & Middleton, 1992). Tillage reduction has been widely adopted, because these practices can increase soil resistance by promoting soil compaction, crust formation, and SOC accumulation (Xiao, Kuhn, et al, 2021). Conservation practices that can increase soil stability, such as no tillage and soil stabilizer application, may also limit the saltation process, either by increasing the crust strength or by increasing the stability to resist the impacts of saltating particles (Armbrust, 1999; Gomes et al, 2003).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of conservation practices on global wind erosion control: Evidence from experimental data

et al. 2023

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Wind erosion represents one of the major land degradation forms that significantly threatens sustainable development across the globe. A series of conservation practices have been widely developed and tested in order to effectively reduce wind erosion rates in non‐irrigated dry and semi‐dry lands. However, a comprehensive investigation regarding the efficacy of conservation practices and potential impacting factors on erosion control at the global scale has not been undertaken. In this study, a synthesis was conducted, based on data from global experimental plots, to comprehensively examine the efficacy of varying conservation practices, and their effectiveness at reducing erosion, in different geographical regions, under varying climatic conditions, and with different soil properties. The results showed that conservation practices were able to reduce wind erosion rates by over 52% globally. Straw use and soil stabilizer were the most effective measures in wind erosion control, which could reduce erosion rates by over 70%. Wind erosion control efficacy of conservation practices differed among climatic zones, continents, and countries. Notably, the lowest efficacy was observed in dry climatic zones. Erosion control efficacy highly depended on climatic conditions, such as mean annual precipitation (MAP), mean annual temperature (MAT), wind speed, and soil properties, such as water content and clay content. We further observed a positive correlation between wind erosion reduction rates and straw mulching rates, suggesting a straw mulching rate of at least 40% was necessary in order to reach a potential erosion reduction rate of 70%. To sum up, this study illustrates that the overall efficacy of conservation practices in wind erosion control is highly effective at the global scale, but the specific effects vary among different regions, and depend on conservation practice type, climatic condition, and soil property. The lower erosion reduction rate of dry regions at high erosion risk suggests the high erosion control pressure, and more effective measures should be considered and developed. The results of this study are, importantly, complementary to existing wind erosion control guidelines.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of conservation practices on global wind erosion control: Evidence from experimental data

et al. 2023

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“…Moreover, one previous study observed that increasing crop yield in CA may be influenced by the improve soil fertility by conserving soil and water and sequestering organic carbon in farmed soils, hence lowering extremes of waterlogging and drought [25] . Furthermore, the higher production in CA might be related to improved soil struc- ture and stability, which would allow for better drainage and water holding capacity [26] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Use, Productivity, and Profitability of Traditional Rice–Wheat System Could be Improved by Conservation Agriculture

Hossain

Begum

Bell

2022

Res. World Agric. Econ.

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Power tiller-driven plow tillage and crop residue exclusionary Traditional Agriculture practices are expensive, labor demanding, soil damaging, and eco-unfriendly. Over the last several years, pursuits of crop production through sustaining the productive capacity of soils, and environmental quality, have raised concern to adopt Conservation Agriculture worldwide. Single tillage combined with herbicides and crop residue retention principles of Conservation Agriculture are being developed. Between 2016–2017 and 2017–2018, a two-year on-farm experiment was done in Bangladesh. We practiced two crop establishment methods; Traditional Agriculture: Plow tillage followed by three manual weeding without residue preservation of previous crop and Conservation Agriculture: Pre-plant herbicide + single tillage + pre-emergence herbicide + post-emergence herbicide; under rice–wheat and rice–wheat–mungbean systems. Data reveal that the Conservation Agriculture was more cost-effective crop establishment technique than Traditional Agriculture in rice, wheat, and mungbean by increasing the ratio of benefit to costs by 24.3%, 35.7% and 48.8%, respectively, with a savings in tillage operations (66.3%, 58.1%, and 57.6%, respectively), weeding expenditures (59.2%, 24.5%, and 42.2%, respectively), and manpower requirements (25.1%, 27.2%, and 31.3%, respectively). This has resulted in an increase of 32% productivity of rice–wheat–mungbean systems with the yield advantage of 16%, 31% and 37% in rice, wheat and mungbean, respectively. When mungbean was added, the rice–wheat system’s productivity rose by 43%. The rice–wheat–mungbean system under Traditional Agriculture had the highest land utilization efficiency (99.45%), followed by Conservation Agriculture (92.05%), which expanded the scope to include additional crops into rice–wheat–mungbean system. Moreover, the Conservation Agriculture had a 59.7% greater production efficiency than Traditional Agriculture, where the rice–wheat–mungbean system having the highest production efficiency (53.00 kg–1 ha–1 day–1), followed by the rice–wheat system (45.57 kg–1 ha–1 day–1).

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“…CAP support for sustainable agricultural practices is limited and unable to counteract the damaging impact of e.g., hectarebased income support with its weak environmental requirements. This is unfortunate as sustainable agricultural practices can support soil protection and soil biodiversity and thereby contribute to close nutrient cycles, and benefit climate and biodiversity (Jian et al, 2020;Köninger et al, 2021;Redlich et al, 2021;Xiao et al, 2021b). In doing so, these practices could support achieving the Farm to Fork objective and global environmental goals.…”

Section: Limited Support For Sustainable Agricultural Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving the nutrient reduction objective of the Farm to Fork Strategy. An assessment of CAP subsidies for precision fertilization and sustainable agricultural practices in Germany

Heyl

Ekardt

Roos

et al. 2023

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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The Farm to Fork Strategy of the EU aims at sustainable food systems. One objective of the Strategy is to reduce nutrient losses by at least 50% resulting in at least 20% less fertilizer use by 2030. To this end, Member States are expected to extend digital precision fertilization and sustainable agricultural practices through the Common Agricultural Policy. In this context, this article applies a qualitative governance analysis which aims to assess the extent to which the measures proposed by the Farm to Fork Strategy, i.e., digital precision fertilization and sustainable agricultural practices, contribute to the nutrient objective of the Farm to Fork Strategy. The article analyses how these measures are implemented through the Common Agricultural Policy in Germany and Saxony. Results show that the nutrient objective of the Farm to Fork Strategy itself offers shortcomings. Germany offers some, yet overall limited, support for sustainable agricultural practices and digital precision fertilization. Hence, the Common Agricultural Policy will to a limited extend only contribute to the objective of the Strategy. The results furthermore highlight some general shortcomings of digitalization as sustainability strategy in the agricultural sector including typical governance issues (rebound and enforcement problems), and point to the advantages of quantity-based policy instruments.

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Net effects of conservation agriculture principles on sustainable land use: A synthesis

Cited by 38 publications

References 73 publications

Effects of conservation practices on global wind erosion control: Evidence from experimental data

Effects of conservation practices on global wind erosion control: Evidence from experimental data

Land Use, Productivity, and Profitability of Traditional Rice–Wheat System Could be Improved by Conservation Agriculture

Achieving the nutrient reduction objective of the Farm to Fork Strategy. An assessment of CAP subsidies for precision fertilization and sustainable agricultural practices in Germany

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