Institutional and policy support for Conservation Agriculture uptake

Publication date: 20/01/2020
Extent: 52 pages

Contributions by: Tom Goddard, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Canada; Gottlieb Basch, University of Evora, Portugal; Rolf Derpsh, Agricultural Consultant, Paraguay; Li Hongwen and He Jin, China Agriculture University, China; Muratbek Karabayev, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico; Amir Kassam, University of Reading, UK; Ken Moriya, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Paraguay; Roberto Peiretti, Agricultural Consultant, Argentina; and Hendrik Smith, Grain SA, South Africa

Chapter synopsis: Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been adopted by farmers in at least 78 countries around the world in response to land degradation from intensive tillage and monoculture production systems. Since pioneer farmers started the CA development journey five decades ago it has been refined into a sustainable production system with improved economics and multiple social and environmental co-benefits beyond stopping the immediate land degradation concerns. This chapter reviews experiences of CA in a wide range of countries (including Canada, Kazakhstan, China, Paraguay and Argentina) in order to allow the identification of commonalities and differences. The chapter examines the subsidization of agricultural activities as a barrier to change and evolution of processes and the initial reluctance and skepticism of academia with regard to CA. The chapter considers CA as a disruptive innovation and looks ahead to the future of CA policy on a global scale.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2019.0048.13