Development of Conservation Agriculture systems globally

Publication date: 20/01/2020
Extent: 56 pages

Contributions by: Amir Kassam, University of Reading, UK; Rolf Derpsch, Consultant, Paraguay; and Theodor Friedrich, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy

Chapter synopsis: This chapter outlines the development of Conservation Agriculture (CA) system globally in terms of its origins, pioneers and champions, main drivers for its spread, CA systems involved, regional adoption, challenges and future prospects. Reducing soil disturbance by tillage began in the USA in the 1930s in response to the devastation caused by mouldboard ploughing and prolonged drought in the mid-west prairies that led to the period known as the ‘dust bowl’. Initially, a number of soil and water conservation practices were developed, including contour ploughing, bunding and terracing. Stubble mulch farming was also developed and this became a forerunner of no-tillage farming which appeared in the 1940s in the USA and led to the term conservation tillage. Realizing that tillage was the root cause of soil erosion and degradation, the term conservation tillage was replaced by the term Conservation Agriculture in 1997 at the meeting of the Latin American Network for Conservation Tillage (Red Latino Americana de Labranza Conservacionista, RELACO), in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2019.0048.02