Global CA-CoP CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

for sustainable agriculture and land management


Dear Subscribers,

Please see herebelow two self-explanatory messages from Robert Peiretti regarding a EDX Micro Master Course on No Till System at the Cordoba National University, Argentina.

Thank you Roberto for sharing.

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.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Roberto Peiretti <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2020 at 21:34
Subject: EDX No Till System Course Leaflets
To: Amir Kassam <[log in to unmask]>, Amir Kassam <[log in to unmask]>


Hi Amir

I have worked with EDX representative People at Cordoba National University jointly with Agronomy Faculty academic authorities in preparing a leaflet promoting the EDX Micro Master Course related to the No Till System.

At the end of the day it is a Conservation Agriculture Course. But as you know down here people do easily recognize The No Till System as equivalent to CA. Also they clearly differentiate between just No Till as a technology from the SYSTEMIC concept of No Till System. Many years ( around fifteen or so ) during a Plenary Presentation that I was offering at an AAPRESID annual meeting (as well as I frequently did within CAAPAS ), I strongly presented and insisted emphatically that The No Till System was not equivalent at all to "Planting Directly", but instead it was much more than this been a truly system approach and operation. They should be understood and implemented in practice under a systemic view and concept. Also, at that time I was insisting on the main pillars of the System; namely: 1. Avoiding tillage, 2. Soil covered as much as possible and 3.Crop diversity and rotation. 

Anyhow, the name issue deserves a common discussion aimed to standardize the names around the world.

Amir, to this mail I am attaching the leaflets that were preparing in collaboration with University, Faculty and EDX representatives  advertising the course.

If you feel it is appropriate and you send a message from CaCoP attaching the leaflets and a brief comment,  it surely will help a lot for more colleagues, farmers and related people around the world to become aware of its existence and eventually lead them to take the course. Already around 5000 people are taking the course ¡¡. I feel it represents a relevant contribution to promote and scale up the adoption of CA principles around the world. I feel happy for this and for having had the chance to actively participate on the course  ¡¡¡¡ 

Still if you can distribute it on Ca Cop, I am positive we will even enlarge the reach and the people that take the course.

I have the pleasure of offering the opening class of the first course "Historical Context of the No Till System....".The picture of the Leaflets is mine and is a picture of my farm last season soy No Tilled on top of Avena strigosa as cover crops.

Regarding the cost of the course and related issues, if you take the course without evaluation of exams and not for credit IT IS FOR FREE. If you want to take the course formally and be evaluated for credits, I was advised that there is a fee. I do not know exactly how much but I was told it was very moderate. It can be surely found by accessing and exploring on the link written on the leaflets. 

Hope you can distribute it. I discussed this possibility with the University People and they were very keen, enthusiastic and gratefully in advance to you for including the leaflets in a Ca Cop message reaching a large number of colleagues, farmers and related people.

I attach the two versions,  one in English and a second in Spanish. The course was dictated in Spanish but with simultaneous written translation.

Personally, I thank you in advance for the eventual and valluable help that you can surely offer to this effort.

I will be looking for your comments

Kind regards from your friend and colleague

Roberto

P/S
If you can figure out any other mean, site, colleagues, institutions etc. that might be interested in knowing the existence of this course, please feel free to share the leaflets.


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Roberto Peiretti <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2020 at 22:12
Subject: Additional Description of MicroMaster(R) course
To: Amir Kassam <[log in to unmask]>


Hi to all

Dear colleagues:

I few days ago I sent to all of you a leaflet with the announcement of a MicroMaster(R) EDX Program on the No Till System containing five courses  each, offered by Agriculture School of Cordoba National University.

Since the Courses and program was originally designed and dictated in  Spanish and the main language and hence uploaded into EDX in this language; when you access to EDX platform by using the link provided on the leaflet, the explanations appears mostly in spanish what surely means a idiomatic barrier limitation to explore the introductory material.

As an attempt to overcome this limitation, an explanatory sheet in English was prepared and I am sharing it with all of you.

Evn the courses are dictated in spanish, all of them are sub-titled in English.

Hope this attached sheet helps.

Kind regards to all

Roberto



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