*CA-CoP* *CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE* *for sustainable production intensification* Dear Subscribers, Please find herebelow a paper on CA research work done by Colin Piggin and his team at ICARDA. *Amir Kassam * *Moderator* e-mail: [log in to unmask] URL: www.fao.org/ag/ca ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Piggin, Colin (ICARDA) <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Publication of ACIAR Iraq B4 paper in FCR (2015) 173 57-67 To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> Dear Amir I hope all is well with you. For your information, please find attached a paper from the ACIAR Iraq project just published in FCR. It presents comparative data for 6 years on the performance of the most important crops (wheat, barley, chickpea, lentil) in the Middle East and West Asia under old conventional and new conservation cropping systems. The reality of the extremely variable climate and crop performance in this Mediterranean region is well illustrated, with the important message clear that farmers are almost always better off using zero tillage and early sowing. The trial has helped give the technology credibility and, along with other project-led research, extension, training and ZT seeder fabrication, has encouraged quite widespread adoption and better productivity, profitability and sustainability of cropping across Syria and northern Iraq. Interestingly, we hear from farmer contacts in Syria and Iraq that ZT continues to expand because elimination of plowing is very attractive with the high cost and limited availability of diesel and a desire to minimise dangerous road travel from villages to farms. A few of our collaborating ZT seeder manufacturers are still functioning and farmers can still buy, rent or borrow a seeder. With best wishes Colin ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CA-Cop-L list, click the following link: &*TICKET_URL(CA-Cop-L,SIGNOFF);