*CA-CoP** **CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE*** *for sustainable production intensification * *Alert No. 24 (20 August 2012) *** *1. **No-Till Conservation Agriculture Conference, 4-6 September 2012, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa* This conference entitled “Make the Move Towards Sustainable Agriculture in 2012” will be held at Drakensville Holiday Resort 4-6 September 2012, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. For more information contact: Sandra Findlay, No-Till Club, P O Box 526, Hilton, 3245 KwaZulu-Natal, SA. email: [log in to unmask] Telephone 033-330-2062; Cell: 082-472-5987; Fax: 086-579-6926 ** *2. **Change of date/venue: **International Conference to mark 20 years of work on CA in China*<ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/ag/data/agp/Friedrich/CA-CoP-L-24-12-08/CA-China%2020th%20Year-%20announcement.pdf> *, 19-21 November 2012 at Beijing* 2012 is the 20th year of work on Conservation Agriculture in the People’s Republic of China. Conservation Tillage Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture (CTRC), China Agricultural University (CAU), the Shanxi Agricultural Mechanization Bureau (SAMB), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering (CSAE) will, different from the initial announcement (see hyperlink),organize an international conference from 19-21 November 2012 at Beijing, China, to mark 20 years of work on CA in China. The announcement for the Conference and Call for Papers is attached and more details can be found at: http://www.cn-ct.net/donet/english/En_index.aspx (or http://www.cn-ct.net/) ** *3. **Third International Agronomy Congress on “Agriculture Diversification, Climate Change Management and Livelihoods” at New Delhi during November 26–30, 2012*** The Indian Society of Agronomy in collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), American Society of Agronomy (ASA) and Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS), New Delhi shall be organizing the Third International Agronomy Congress on “ *Agriculture Diversification, Climate Change Management and Livelihoods*”, at New Delhi during November 26–30, 2012. The first & Second circular of the Congress are available on Indian Society of Agronomy (ISA) website: www.isa-india.in. (Copy of the second circular is attached for ready reference). The theme of the Congress will be addressed through 10 symposia, of which one pertains to *“Best management practices with conservation agriculture” * *4. **Third International Conference on Conservation Agriculture in South East Asia, Hanoi, 10-15 December 2012. * CIRAD<http://www.cirad.fr/en/who-are-we/cirad-worldwide/continental-southeast-asia/in-a-nutshell> and NOMAFSI <http://www.nomafsi.com.vn/> as part of the Conservation Agriculture Network for Southeast Asia (CANSEA <http://cansea.org.vn/>) and the University of Queensland <http://www.uq.edu.au/> are delighted to invite scientists, development and extension workers, policy-makers, and graduate / post-graduate students to attend and contribute to the 3rd International Conference on Conservation Agriculture in Southeast Asia which will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam on 10th-15th December 2012. Conference title is: "*Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Upland Livelihood : Innovations for, with and by Farmers to Adapt to Local and Global Changes" *. Attached is the Call for Papers, with more information is available at www.conservation-agriculture2012.org * * *5. **T**he next Australian Controlled Traffic Farming Association (ACTFA) conference will be in Toowoomba, Queensland on 25 - 27 February 2013. *** To express your interest and to be kept informed *please click *<https://eir.eventsinteractive.com/ei/getdemo.ei?id=9810008000135&s=_EWS114AHC> *here*<https://eir.eventsinteractive.com/ei/getdemo.ei?id=9810008000135&s=_EWS114AHC> * *and complete the brief Expression of Interest form. * Contact*: Sally Brown (Email sally.brown@sallybcc<[log in to unmask]> .com.au <[log in to unmask]>) On behalf of the ACTFA 2013 Organising Committee* * www.conferenceconnections.com.au * *** *6. **Agronomic and Economic evaluation of permanent raised beds, no tillage and straw mulching for an irrigated maize-wheat system in northwest India*<ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/ag/data/agp/Friedrich/CA-CoP-L-24-12-08/PB_m-w_Hari_Ram_Exp_Agri.pdf> *. **By *Hari Ram, Yandvinder-Singh, K. S. Saini, D. S. Kler, J. Timsina *and *E. J. Humphreys. *Expl Agric., *48 (1), pp. 21–38 (2012). (doi:10.1017/S0014479711000809)** * * *7. **Conservation agriculture in Central Asia—What do we know and where do we go from here?*<ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/ag/data/agp/Friedrich/CA-CoP-L-24-12-08/Kienzler%20et%20al.%202012%20CA%20in%20Central%20Asia.pdf> *By *K.M. Kienzler, J.P.A. Lamers, A. McDonald, A. Mirzabaev, N. Ibragimov, O. Egamberdiev, E. Ruzibaev *and* A. Akramkhanov. *Field Crops Research*132 (2012) 95–105 (2012) (doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2011.12.008) *8. **Effects of conservation agriculture on soil quality and productivity in contrasting agro-ecological environments of Zimbabwe*<ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/ag/data/agp/Friedrich/CA-CoP-L-24-12-08/Effects%20of%20CA%20in%20constrasting%20environments.%20Thierfelder%20and%20Wall.2012.pdf> *. **By* C. Thierfelder & P. C. Wall. *Soil Use and Management,* June 2012, 28, 209–220 (2012) (doi: 10.1111/j.1475-2743.2012.00406.x)** * * *9. **Benefits and challenges of crop rotations in maize-based conservation agriculture (CA) cropping systems of southern Africa*<ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/ag/data/agp/Friedrich/CA-CoP-L-24-12-08/Rotation%20paper.Thierfelder%20et%20al.%202012.pdf> *.** **By** *Christian Thierfelder, Stephanie Cheesman *and* Leonard Rusinamhodzi. *International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability* (2012) (DOI:10.1080/14735903.2012.703894). ** * * *10. **An On-farm Assessment of Carbon Monitoring and Mapping Scaling Up in No-Till Fields*<http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/CA-Publications/An_on_Farm_Assessment.pdf> *.** **By* João Carlos de Moraes Sá, Josiane Burkner dos Santos *and*Rattan Lal (eds). University of Ponta Grossa, Brazil and FAO (2012). 58 pp. *11. **No-Till Agriculture in Southern Brazil*<http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/ap289e/ap289e00.pdf> *.* *By* Ruy Casão Junior, Augusto Guilherme de Araújo *and* Rafael Fuentes Llanillo. FAO and IAPAR, Brazil (2012). 77 pp. * * *12. **Two Wheel Tractor Newsletter August 2012*<ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/ag/data/agp/Friedrich/CA-CoP-L-24-12-08/TWO%20WHEEL%20TRACTOR%20NEWSLETTER%20AUGUST%202012.pdf> *.** *Produced by R. Jeff Esdaile, Ag. Consultant, Tamworth NSW Australia. * * *13. **The CA-technologies database (CATD) has been updated and has a new design.* It is accessible at the usual web address through the FAO CA-webpage at: http://www.fao.org/ag/catd/ *14. **Up-dated Conservation Agriculture Data Base in AquaStat, FAO * The CA land area data base has been updated based on the feedback received from our regular sources of information and has been posted in AquaStat. The latest figures can be seen at the FAO CA-Website at ( http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/6c.html). However, updating of the data base is an ongoing process, and anyone who would like to provide information on the land area under CA systems at the national level is most welcome to do anytime. Ideally, we would appreciate receiving the CA area information at the sub-national level, together with any relevant historical information on adoption, cropping pattern, farm size, agro-ecology, constraints, etc. For the recording of area under CA, please adhere to the quantification of the CA definition on the FAO-CA website: http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/6c.html * 1. Minimum Soil Disturbance: Minimum soil disturbance refers to low disturbance no-tillage and direct seeding. The disturbed area must be less than 15 cm wide or less than 25% of the cropped area (whichever is lower). There should be no periodic tillage that disturbs a greater area than the aforementioned limits. Strip tillage is allowed if the disturbed area is less than the set limits.* * 2. Organic soil cover: Three categories are distinguished: 30-60%, >60-90% and >90% ground cover, measured immediately after the direct seeding operation. Area with less than 30% cover is not considered as CA. * * 3. Crop rotation/association: Rotations/associations should involve at least 3 different crops. However, repetitive wheat or maize cropping is not an exclusion factor for the purpose of this data collection, but rotation/association is recorded where practiced.* * We would further like* to stress that the database counts actual land area under annual crops with CA (permanent no-till). Area under perennial crops will be recorded separately. No-till area by crop will not be recorded to avoid double recording of the same land area.* *** * Amir Kassam * *Moderator* * * Plant Production and Protection Division Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00153 Rome Italy Tel: +39-06-5705-6375 e-mail: [log in to unmask] URL: www.fao.org/ag/ca *Save and Grow* *Sustainable Crop Production Intensification*** --------- To subscribe to the CA-CoP-L list, send an e-mail to [log in to unmask] leaving the subject line blank and placing only the one-line message: ‘*SUBSCRIBE CA-CoP-L Name Surname*’ in the message part without any further text such as an address, etc. To unsubscribe from the CA-CoP-L list, send an e-mail message to [log in to unmask] leaving the subject line blank and placing only the one-line message: '*SIGNOFF CA-CoP-L*' in the message part without any further text such as a name, address, etc. ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CA-Cop-L list, click the following link: &*TICKET_URL(CA-Cop-L,SIGNOFF);