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:
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:
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).