CA-CoP CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
for sustainable
production intensification
Alert No. 25 (19 September 2012)
1. 6th World Congress of Conservation Agriculture to be held June 22-26, 2014, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
The 6th World Congress of Conservation Agriculture will be held June 22-26, 2014, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. See the flyer and learn more at www.ctic.org/WCCA
Direct your inquiries to:
Karen A. Scanlon
Conservation Technology Information Center
3495 Kent Avenue, Suite J100
West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA
T: 765-494-2238
F: 765-463-4106
2. International Conference to mark 20 years of work on CA in China, 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 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 and NOMAFSI as part of the Conservation Agriculture Network for Southeast Asia (CANSEA) and the University of Queensland 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. The 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 here and complete the brief Expression of Interest form.
Contact: Sally Brown (Email sally.brown@sallybcc.com.au)
On behalf of the ACTFA 2013 Organising Committee www.conferenceconnections.com.au
6. Conference on Conservation Agriculture for Smallholders in Asia and Africa, Bangladesh, 8-13 December 2013
Themes for the conference are – i) Machinery: Design and development of CA-based crop establishment and herbicide spraying machinery, implements, tools for smallholders,; ii) Weed management: Suitable weed management options (chemical, mechanical, crop rotation and biological); iii) Soil, water and agronomy; iv) Commercialisation: adoption and continuous improvement of CA-based technologies; and v) Policy and institutional framework for the adoption of CA.
For further information and expression of interests: Richard Bell ([log in to unmask])
or Enamul Haque ([log in to unmask])
7. WBI-TerrAfrica New learning video on CA - How did Zambia scale it up?
The Climate Change Unit of the World Bank Institute and TerrAfrica have produced a learning video on CA, available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWTnH1cHWWw
Comments are welcome and should be sent to:
Ms. Mei Xie, Ph.D.
Climate Change Unit
World Bank Institute (WBI-CC)
World Bank, Washington DC
Tel. 202-458-8851
8. Conservation agriculture systems for Malawian smallholder farmers: long-term effects on crop productivity, profitability and soil quality. By Amos Robert Ngwira, Christian Thierfelder and Dayton M. Lambert. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems / FirstView Article / August 2012, pp 1-14. DOI: 10.1017/S1742170512000257.
9. Reaping the benefits of no-tillage farming. By Howard Buffet. Nature, Vol. 484, page 455, 26 APRIL 2012
10. Methane emission from soil under long-term no-till cropping systems. By Cimélio Bayer, Juliana Gomes, Frederico Costa Beber Vieira, Josiléia Accordi Zanatta, Marisa de Cássia Piccolo and Jeferson Dieckow. Soil & Tillage Research 124 (2012) 1–7.
11. Impact of tillage on runoff in long term no-till wheat systems. By P.B. DeLaune and J.W. Sij. Soil & Tillage Research 124 (2012) 32–35.
12. Crop yield and weed growth under conservation agriculture in semi-arid
Zimbabwe. By Nester Mashingaidze, Casper Madakadze, Stephen Twomlow, Justice Nyamangara and Lewis Hove. Soil & Tillage Research 124 (2012) 102–110.
13. Conservation Agriculture in the Semi-Arid Tropics: Prospects and Problems. By R.A. Jat, S.P. Wani and K.L. Sahrawat. Advances in Agronomy 117. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-394278-4.00004-0
14. No-till farming and the environment: Do no-till systems require more chemicals? By Theodor Friedrich and Amir Kassam. Outlooks on Pest Management, August 2012. pp. 153-157. DOI: 10.1564/23aug02
15. An ecologically sustainable approach to agricultural production intensification: Global perspectives and developments. By Amir Kassam and Theodor Friedrich. Field Action Science Reports, Special Issue 6 | 2012 Reconciling Poverty Eradication and Protection of the Environment. http://factsreports.revues.org/1382
16. Harnessing on-farm and landscape ecosystem services from agriculture in Brazil and Canada. By Amir Kassam, Ivo Mello, Tom Goddard, Theodor Friedrich, Herbert Bartz and Francois Laurent. A poster presented at the International Symposium on Managing Soils for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation held at IAEA, Vienna, Austria 23-27 July 2012.
17. A video of the hand operated direct seeder known as the Li Seeder is now on YouTube and available at this web address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k92gQSFm31U
18. Two Wheel Tractor Newsletter September 2012. Produced by R. Jeff Esdaile, Agricultural. Consultant, Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia.
19. 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
URL: www.fao.org/ag/ca
Save and Grow
Sustainable Crop Production Intensification
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