Conservation Agriculture Research Updates - March 2026

This paper looks at the problem of soil erosion in the mountains of Guatemala. It looks at the effectiveness of CA to reduce soil erosion in maize cultivation. The study was conducted over a three-year period, from 2017 to 2019, on three experimental plots managed under conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT) and no-tillage (NT). The general-to-specific (GETS) method, based on reduction theory, was used to generate explanatory models of the erosion-affected surface. The results showed different rates of eroded soil surface between the three management systems: 73.2% under CT, 41.3% under RT and 20.4% under NT. Three conclusions are derived and discussed in this paper. Litter layer was the key explanatory factor for erosion that was highly influenced by the agricultural management system. The paper recommended for the area of this study that soil management under NT with a dense and well distributed litter cover is best to control erosion.