What Is Conservation Agriculture?

Conservation agriculture refers to soil management practices with minimal damage to the structure, composition, and natural biodiversity of the soil, to minimize soil erosion and degradation, and to minimize water pollution. Among them, the direct seeding method and the minimum tillage system are the two most basic soil management measures for conservation agriculture. Specifically, after harvesting in each agricultural season, do not recycle crop residues (such as straw, yellow seedlings, rhizomes) for storage, burning or burying biomass, but leave it as a soil cover in Ground. At the beginning of the next farming season, no arable land is used at all and the seeds are planted directly into the soil.

Conservation agriculture

Right!

Conservation agriculture refers to the minimization of soil structure, composition and natural biodiversity, to achieve minimal erosion and degradation of soil and minimal water pollution.

Protective agriculture is based on the emergence of new agriculture on the premise of achieving sustainable agricultural development

1. Advantages of sustainable development ^[2]

Conservation agriculture dates back to more than 70 years ago

1. Conservation agriculture can keep

According to the expert opinion expounded in the World Agriculture: Towards 2015/2030 published by FAO, there will be a big development of conservation agriculture in the next 10-20 years, and it will have a positive effect on sustainable agricultural development. It is inevitable that China will develop protective agriculture. ^[1]

To develop protective agriculture, comprehensive measures must be taken to break through constraints in concepts, technologies, policies, systems, and the legal system, and to establish long-term mechanisms. ^[1]

1. Weeding problem ^[2]

Protective agriculture is an agricultural output increase measure that generally has less input and more output and saves labor and resources. It is a "win-win" for land and manpower savings. But this does not mean that conservation agriculture is no problem. Where weeds are severely affected, conservation agriculture may require the application of herbicides. During the transition from traditional agriculture to conservation agriculture, pests or pathogens caused by certain soils may cause new problems due to changes in biological balance. But once the environment of protective agriculture stabilizes, protective agriculture is often easier to manage and more productive than traditional agriculture. The problem of insurmountable pests has not been found in conservation agriculture.

2. The relationship between conservation agriculture and organic agriculture

Although conservation agriculture is based on maintaining the natural processes of agricultural production, conservation agriculture does not prohibit the use of inputs for agricultural chemicals. For example, herbicides are an important part of conservation agriculture. This is especially true during the transition phase until a new balance between crops and weeds is achieved. Similarly, given the importance of soil life in the system, it is possible that agricultural chemicals, including fertilizers, are applied very carefully. In general, farmers in conservation agriculture use far fewer chemical products (mainly herbicides) than farmers in traditional agriculture. And it will be less and less until the final cancellation.

3. Integrated pest management

First of all, the adoption of protective agricultural measures and the implementation of reasonable crop rotations will not increase more pests and diseases than traditional agriculture. However, integrated pest management is still suitable for conservation agriculture, and the actual operation must be carried out according to the same principle. Like integrated pest management, conservation agriculture also emphasizes biological processes. In addition, protective agriculture has expanded the method of integrated pest management from crop and pest management to the entire land management.

4. Scope of protective agriculture

Conservation agriculture can be used not only to grow cereals and legumes, but also other crops such as sugar cane, vegetables, potatoes, beets and cassava, as well as perennial crops such as fruits and grapes. Aquatic plants cannot of course be covered by biomass, and rice cultivation cannot be no-till. However, it is possible to use biomass to cover the winter in rice fields. As far as it has been promoted, protective agricultural measures have failed to succeed only in arid regions with extreme water shortages and low organic matter production. Because there is not enough biomass to cover the soil in these places, and there is not enough water to turn the cover into the nutrients needed by the soil.