No-Till: The Quiet Revolution

Huggins, David R.; Reganold, John P.

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0708-70

Cited by 168 publications

(107 citation statements)

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“…The decreased disturbance of the soil profile aids in maintaining its structure, encouraging proliferation and activity of earthworms and other soil's fauna. These effects promote wildlife biodiversity and support agro-ecosystem health (Huggins and Reganold 2008). At the same time, the reduced disturbance of the soil structure decreases emission rates of CO 2 , N 2 O, and CH 4 ).…”

Section: The Potential Impact Of Conservation Farmingmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The resultant increase in SOC concentration further stimulates soil's structure formation and stability (Govaerts et al 2007). In economic terms, the number of passes over a field needed to establish and harvest a crop under NT decreases dramatically, requiring 50-80% less fuel and 30-50% less labor (Huggins and Reganold 2008).…”

Section: The Potential Impact Of Conservation Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Agroforestry and biochar to offset climate change: a review

Stavi

Lal

2012

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

148

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Expansion of agricultural land use has increased emission of greenhouse gases, exacerbating climatic changes. Most agricultural soils have lost a large portion of their antecedent soil organic carbon storage, becoming a source of atmospheric carbon-dioxide. In addition, agricultural soils can also be a major source of nitrous oxide and methane. Adoption of conservation agricultural practices may mitigate some of the adverse impacts of landuse intensification. However, optimal implementation of these practices is not feasible under all physical and biotic conditions. Of a wide range of conservation practices, the most promising options include agroforestry systems and soil application of biochar, which can efficiently sequester large amounts of carbon over the long-run. In addition, these practices also increase agronomic productivity and support a range of ecosystem services. Payments to farmers and land managers for sequestrating carbon and improving ecosystem services is an important strategy for promoting the adoption of such practices, aimed at mitigating climate change while decreasing environmental footprint of agriculture and sustaining food security.

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Section: The Potential Impact Of Conservation Farmingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: The Potential Impact Of Conservation Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agroforestry and biochar to offset climate change: a review

Stavi

Lal

2012

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

148

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“…No-till represents a clear departure from traditional farm practices, which require seasonal tilling of the land multiple times, to prepare for planting, for nutrient release and during the growing season for weed control (Huggins and Reganold, 2008). In contrast, no-till technology involves no or very little soil disturbance and uses equipment and chemistry markedly different from traditional agricultural technologies.…”

Section: Adoption Of Transformative Agriculture Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding perennial wheat adoption as a transformative technology: evidence from the literature and farmers

Adebiyi

Olabisi

Snapp

2015

Renew. Agric. Food Syst.

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Perennial grain crops are an example of a 'transformative technology,' in which the functionality and science of the technology differ in a fundamental manner from conventional grain crops. A review of the literature indicates that the motivation for farmer adoption of transformative technologies is complex and poorly understood. At the same time, many studies have found concern and awareness about environmental issues to be significantly and positively correlated with the adoption of no-till agriculture, organic farming and agroforestry. Building on these insights, we conducted an ex ante study of perennial wheat adoption among 11 farmers from Michigan and Ohio. Perennial wheat is not yet commercially available, so a semi-structured interview format was chosen to allow for in-depth discussions of the crop's potential characteristics and uses. Consistent with the literature on transformative technology adoption, farmers who approached us to learn more about perennial grains described soil and environmental quality as their primary motivations for doing so. Farmers suggested a total of ten different uses for perennial wheat, only one of which was mentioned specifically by interviewers. This diversity of proposed uses implied a wide range of criteria for adoption. A striking result was that the ability of perennial wheat to compete with annual wheat on the basis of yield, a focus of researchers, was brought up by only one of the interviewees, as many farmers proposed perennial wheat as a means of solving a problem for which no other crop provided an adequate solution, often by planting perennial wheat on an under-used or marginal area of the farm. This is suggestive that interacting with farmers could alter priorities in perennial grain improvement, as has occurred in other radically transformative agriculture technologies.

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“…Approximately 40 % of USA maize (Zea mays L.) grain production is used for fuel ethanol production and the non-grain biomass or stover remaining after grain harvest has been proposed as a significant cellulosic feedstock for advance biofuels production [18,19]. No-till or minimum-till farming practices have increased in the USA because of their conservation benefits and reduced production costs [20]. Information on the effect of maize stover removal under no-till management on soil C from long-term studies has not been available to date [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Carbon Sequestration by Switchgrass and No-Till Maize Grown for Bioenergy

et al. 2012

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Net benefits of bioenergy crops, including maize and perennial grasses such as switchgrass, are a function of several factors including the soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestered by these crops. Life cycle assessments (LCA) for bioenergy crops have been conducted using models in which SOC information is usually from the top 30 to 40 cm. Information on the effects of crop management practices on SOC has been limited so LCA models have largely not included any management practice effects. In the first 9 years of a long-term C sequestration study in eastern Nebraska, USA, switchgrass and maize with best management practices had average annual increases in SOC per hectare that exceed 2 Mg Cyear −1 (7.3 Mg CO 2 year −1 ) for the 0 to 150 soil depth. For both switchgrass and maize, over 50 % of the increase in SOC was below the 30 cm depth. SOC sequestration by switchgrass was twofold to fourfold greater than that used in models to date which also assumed no SOC sequestration by maize. The results indicate that N fertilizer rates and harvest management regimes can affect the magnitude of SOC sequestration. The use of uniform soil C effects for bioenergy crops from sampling depths of 30 to 40 cm across agro-ecoregions for large scale LCA is questionable.

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No-Till: The Quiet Revolution

Cited by 168 publications

References 0 publications

Agroforestry and biochar to offset climate change: a review

Agroforestry and biochar to offset climate change: a review

Understanding perennial wheat adoption as a transformative technology: evidence from the literature and farmers

Soil Carbon Sequestration by Switchgrass and No-Till Maize Grown for Bioenergy

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