*Global CA-CoP* *CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE* *for sustainable agriculture and land management* Dear Subscribers, Please see the 2nd announcement on the 8the World Congress on Conservation Agriculture at: http://8wcca.org/2nd-announcement/ *2nd Announcement * *Programme * We would kindly like to bring to your attention the outline of the 8WCCA programme. The first day of the Congress consists of various opening speeches in the plenary followed by a keynote speech on Benefits of CA to farmers, society and environment. This will be followed in the plenary by a farmers session, a private sector session and a public sector and civil society session. In the evening there will be an official Congress Reception. The second day comprises two parallel sessions addressing the two sub-themes: I) Successful experiences and learnings from Conservation Agriculture worldwide; and II) Farm and ecosystem level benefits of CA systems to society and environment. In the evening the attendees will be given the opportunity to visit the farm of the honorary president of SWISS NO-TILL and enjoy a delicious Swiss dinner. The third day of the Congress comprises two parallel sessions on subthemes: III) Mainstreaming of CA with national policy and institutional support and for global governance to support national and international needs and commitments; and IV) Promoting CA-based knowledge and innovation systems and information sharing and communication The day will end with a Congress closing session. In the evening Congress participants can choose to visit the long-term field trial «Oberacker». On the second and third day, Congress participants, institutions and companies will have an opportunity to hold additional stakeholder sessions on a need and demand basis. Requests for additional sessions should be submitted to the organizers in advance so that required facilities can be organized. The Congress will end with a Field Day on the fourth day which will take place on a CA farm close to the city of Bern. Morer at: http://8wcca.org/2nd-announcement/ *Amir Kassam * *Moderator* *Global CA-CoP* e-mail: [log in to unmask] URL: http://www.fao.org/conservation-agriculture *Conservation Agriculture is an ecosystem approach to regenerative sustainable agriculture and land management based on the practical application of context-specific and locally adapted three interlinked principles of: (i) Continuous no or minimum mechanical soil disturbance (no-till seeding/planting and weeding, and minimum soil disturbance with all other farm operations including harvesting); (ii) permanent maintenance of soil mulch cover (crop biomass, stubble and cover crops); and (iii) diversification of cropping system (economically, environmentally and socially adapted rotations and/or sequences and/or associations involving annuals and/or perennials, including legumes and cover crops), along with other complementary good agricultural production and land management practices. Conservation Agriculture systems are present in all continents, involving rainfed and irrigated systems including annual cropland systems, perennial systems, orchards and plantation systems, agroforestry systems, crop-livestock systems, pasture and rangeland systems, organic production systems and rice-based systems. Conservation Tillage, Reduced Tillage and Minimum Tillage are not Conservation Agriculture, and nor is No-Till on its own* (more at: http://www.fao.org/conservation-agriculture). ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CA-Cop-L list, click the following link: &*TICKET_URL(CA-Cop-L,SIGNOFF);