"sustainable agriculture to help achieve zero hunger. Agroecology: Promoting farming practices that mimic natural ecosystems, such as diversified crop rotations, agroforestry, and integrated pest management […]
Conservation agriculture: Encouraging minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and crop rotations"
#sdg2 #sdgs #sustainablefarming #agroecology #conservationagriculture
Read:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21683565.2025.2451344#d1e108
@benedikt_haug @plant_holobiont
Hey, that is amazing!
The use of woodchips from pruning residues to enhance #SoilOrganicMatter, #SoilMicrobiology and thus #SoilFertility is a very good example of #RegenerativeAgriculture (but without the bloat).
I also recommend the videos by Olivier:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOcvR46yDD4
These people know that there is no one-size-fits-all in agriculture, but that this system has great potential to improve #SoilHealth. Currently it's more about intensive* systems like horticulture or viticulture (for arable fields there just isn't enough wood available).
And we need to be be aware about possible emissions of CO2 (the soil microbes "consume" the wood chips over time, although a share gets converted into relatively stable soil organic matter while the plants get nurtured) and what happens with the N cycle. Here, the team of the URBAG project, headed by Gara Villalba at UAB-ICTA did recently some interesting life cycle assessments and gas measurements and the Carboniato system seems to have a tight microbial nutrient cycling in the high C soil which decreases losses while allowing the plants to access nutrients.
So, carboniato is an impressive system, and I am very glad that you take it tho the netherlands!
There is still a lot of research to do, but here you can use your skills and academic structures for the #AgroecologicalTransformation . Congrats.
Followed 
@uab
* intensive as in: a lot of work and input goes in to produce high-value crops. No judgement here(!)
#agroecology #ConservationAgriculture #RegAg #FoodSovereignity #ClimateSmartFarming
Lambs onto a fresh bit of cover crops, starting the process of preparing for spring malting barley.
The more that the eat and cycle the nutrients, the less we have to break down the cover crop
Nice study. And with prsctical relevance.
We really need #intercropping and multispecies cover-cropping get on the ground!
(And acknowledge that there are many wonderful examples of indigenous people managing their orchards way more advanced than anyone practicing #PrecisionAgriculture )
#SoilMicrobiology #SoilMicrobiome #SoilScience #Agriculture #ConservationAgriculture #SustainableAgriculture #OrganicAgriculture #CoverCrops #Intercropping #Biodiversity #Agroecology
#JustOut Congrat Vira Leng for this 1st PhD #openaccess paper in the EGU SOIL journal 👏! A nice study on 13-year-old trials in 🇰🇭 with cassava, maize🌽or soybean #conservationagriculture #soilorganiccarbon #soilfractions #MAOM #POM
Abstract. No-till (NT) cropping systems have been proposed as a strategy to combat soil degradation by storing soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN). We quantified the impacts of NT cropping systems on the changes in SOC and TN stocks and in particulate and mineral-associated organic matter fractions (POM and MAOM), to 100 cm depth, from three 13-year-old experiments in a tropical red Oxisol in Cambodia using diachronic and equivalent soil mass approaches. Established in 2009 and arranged in a randomized complete-block design with triplicates, the experiments included maize (MaiEx)-, soybean (SoyEx)-, and cassava (CasEx)-based cropping systems. Each experiment comprised three treatments: (1) mono-cropping of main crops (maize, soybean, and cassava) under conventional tillage (CTM); (2) mono-cropping of main crops under NT systems with the use of cover crops (NTM); and (3) bi-annual rotation of main crops under NT systems with the use of cover crops (NTR), with both crops being presented every year and represented by NTR1 and NTR2. Soil samples were collected in 2021, 10 years after the last sampling. All the NT systems significantly (p<0.05) increased SOC stock in the topsoil in SoyEx and MaiEx and down to 40 cm in CasEx. Considering the whole profile (0–100 cm), the SOC accumulation rates ranged from 0.86 to 1.47 and from 0.70 to 1.07 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 in MaiEx and CasEx, respectively. Although SOC stock significantly increased in CTM at 0–20 cm in MaiEx and CasEx, it remained stable at 0–100 cm in all the experiments. At 0–5 cm, NTR systems significantly increased TN stock in all the experiments, while, in NTM systems, it was only significant in MaiEx and SoyEx. At 0–100 cm, TN stock in all the experiments remained stable under NTR systems, whereas a significant decrease was observed under NTM systems in SoyEx and CasEx. Although C-POM stock significantly increased under all NT systems limited to 0–10 cm in MaiEx and SoyEx, all the NT systems significantly increased C-MAOM stock in the 0–10 cm layer in MaiEx and SoyEx and down to 40 cm in CasEx. All the NT systems significantly increased N-POM stock at 0–10 cm in MaiEx and SoyEx, while a significant decreased in N-MAOM stock was observed below 5 cm in CasEx and below 40 cm in MaiEx and SoyEx. Our findings showed that long-term NT systems with crop species diversification accumulated SOC not only on the surface but also in the whole profile by increasing SOC in both the POM and MAOM, even in the cassava-based system. This study highlights the potential of NT systems for storing SOC over time but raises questions about soil N dynamics.
OnlineFirst - "Unearthing care: Rooting alternative agricultural practices in Norway and Costa Rica" by Isabelle Hugøy:
#soil #care #regenerativeagriculture #sustainableagriculture #conservationagriculture #environmentalanthropology
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/25148486241245012
#JustOut #openaccess
Mulch application as the overarching factor explaining increase in #soilorganiccarbon stocks under #conservationagriculture in two 8-year-old experiments in Zimbabwe
Abstract. Conservation agriculture (CA), combining reduced or no tillage, permanent soil cover, and improved rotations, is often promoted as a climate-smart practice. However, our understanding of the impact of CA and its respective three principles on top- and subsoil organic carbon stocks in the low-input cropping systems of sub-Saharan Africa is rather limited. This study was conducted at two long-term experimental sites established in Zimbabwe in 2013. The soil types were abruptic Lixisols at Domboshava Training Centre (DTC) and xanthic Ferralsol at the University of Zimbabwe farm (UZF). The following six treatments, which were replicated four times, were investigated: conventional tillage (CT), conventional tillage with rotation (CTR), no tillage (NT), no tillage with mulch (NTM), no tillage with rotation (NTR), and no tillage with mulch and rotation (NTMR). Maize (Zea mays L.) was the main crop, and treatments with rotation included cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.). The soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration and soil bulk density were determined for samples taken from depths of 0–5, 5–10, 10–15, 15–20, 20–30, 30–40, 40–50, 50–75 and 75–100 cm. Cumulative organic inputs to the soil were also estimated for all treatments. SOC stocks at equivalent soil mass were significantly (p<0.05) higher in the NTM, NTR and NTMR treatments compared with the NT and CT treatments in the top 5 cm and top 10 cm layers at UZF, while SOC stocks were only significantly higher in the NTM and NTMR treatments compared with the NT and CT treatments in the top 5 cm at DTC. NT alone had a slightly negative impact on the top SOC stocks. Cumulative SOC stocks were not significantly different between treatments when considering the whole 100 cm soil profile. Our results show the overarching role of crop residue mulching in CA cropping systems with respect to enhancing SOC stocks but also that this effect is limited to the topsoil. The highest cumulative organic carbon inputs to the soil were observed in NTM treatments at the two sites, and this could probably explain the positive effect on SOC stocks. Moreover, our results show that the combination of at least two CA principles including mulch is required to increase SOC stocks in these low-nitrogen-input cropping systems.
Jackie DeglInnocenti
The Lifeboat Academy
Earthworm 🐌
Maurice Deasy
Rémi Cardinael
Tobias Plieninger
@envplane