CA-CoP CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

for sustainable production intensification


Dear Subscribers,


Please see herebelow a self-explanatory message from John Morrison on appropriate-scale mechanization for CA-cropping for smallholders.

 

Amir Kassam

Moderator

e-mail: [log in to unmask]

URL: www.fao.org/ag/ca

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Morrison <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 6:11 PM
Subject: CA-Seeder for Smallholders
To: [log in to unmask]


21 February 2015

Dear Kassam A,  Delegate,  2014 WCC A Congress, Winnipeg, Canada

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Greetings from Tennessee, USA.  As a fellow attendee of the 2014 World Congress on Conservation Agriculture in Winnipeg, Canada, you may have seen our poster and looping-video on a new CA-crop seeder;  this machine is the one-row “CA-Seeder 1000” that attaches to a small 2-wheel tractor (2WT).

We are working on appropriate-scale mechanization for CA-cropping by smallholders (<2 ha).  For smallholders, CA basically embraces long-term farming/cropping technologies proven to substantially increase yields and thus improve the lives of families and communities.  CA-cropping may be accomplished with manual tools, but for those who are ready to move into mechanized or partially-mechanized cropping, we are attempting to provide appropriate-mechanization items.  This merges the use of 2WTs with mechanization implements as steps away from manual labor.  Our first contribution is the small “CA-Seeder 1000” machine.

 

Currently, there are few available cropping implements that are sized for smallholder-CA, readily attach to 2WTs, and may be successfully used in non-plowed, residue-covered fields for CA-cropping.  There is some interest and opportunity for using animal-draft mechanization, but our main targets are regions and individual farms where 2WTs are now available or farmer-owned.  Our thrust is to provide durable implements which can be successfully used for many years under CA field conditions by individual farmers and by for-hire contractors.

 

Because the delegation at the WCCA Congress was so diverse and represented so many different regions, I am contacting you to share our efforts to aid smallholder farmers with mechanized CA-cropping.  Our goal as not-for-profit manufacturing (by SMTI) and distribution (by WHT) effort is the same that I heard expressed at the WCCA Congress: to increase global food security, starting with individual farm families.  We welcome contact with people who have similar goals. 

The challenge that we face is to link the non-profit distribution services of WHT with regional importers/distributors/agricultural-suppliers which will provide economical CA seeders, parts, and service to local farmers.  Any assistance that you can offer us to identify such supply links will be greatly appreciated and your efforts will aid smallholder farmers in successfully moving to CA-cropping.  Feel free to pass this note on to anyone that you think might be interested in contacting us. 

Thank you,                          John

John E. Morrison Jr, PhD                                                                                          [log in to unmask]

Adjunct Professor, U of Tenn.                                                                                                  +423-743-0363

John Morrison Consultant                                                           109 Laurel Lane, Unicoi, TN 37692 USA

 

Seeder information:  www.MorrisonSeeders.com   and   www.WHTFound.org

Seeder Contact:  [log in to unmask]

 

 

 




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