Conservation Agriculture Research Updates - April 2026

This study was conducted on 21 fields in the Paris Basin (France). Allfields were planted to winter wheat the previous year and a variety of crops and or cover crops in the next year. Soil microorganisms, mesofauna and macrofauna were collected in these 21 fields under conventional, organic or conservation agriculture, either long-established or transitioning, ranging in tillage intensity, pesticide treatment intensity and organic inputs. Recent conservation systems had positive effects on Coleoptera larvae density, earthworm density and biomass, and negative effects on fungal abundance (10–20 cm depth). Recent organic systems benefited earthworm density and biomass, and fungal diversity. The authors conclude that "Overall, conservation and organic agriculture benefit different taxa, and reduced tillage could offer the greatest benefits by promoting soil taxa and their interactions. 

Agriculture in Moldova in Europe is affected by climate change, market issues and costlier input costs. This paper looks at the a comparison of CA and conventional methods in regards to economic efficiency of their main field crops: wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed, and sunflowers. Their results have significant benefits for CA in terms of profits and better use of natural resources. They collected data from 25 suitable farms from 2020-2024 and the results show CA improves profits, reduces fuel use and mechanical operations resulting in lower costs, better yield stability when drought is an issue. They conclude that the adoption of CA by farmers would help farmers address climate risks and improve their efficiency in use of natural resources in this country.

This paper from Italy looks at using tillage radish (TR) in place of fallow to see if it improves soil health. The studied the effects of this cover crop on soil health indicators related to C, N and P cycling in two different climatic conditions using CA practices. Biomass and P uptake by the TR were higher in one site than the other that also had higher levels of SOC in the top layer of soil. TR increased SOC, labile organic C, soil P test, and microbial biomass C, N, and P, but amounts varied by location. They conclude that "TR's positive effects on some soil health indicators related to relevant ecosystem services, particularly C storage, microbial biomass, P mobilization and recycling, and N balance, with site-specific variations depending on pedoclimatic conditions."

This paper discusses the pros and cons of the term Regenerative Agriculture in Europe. They looked at 849 actors web sites and interviewed 131 farmers who use this system from 5 European countries. They mapped actor types, locations, sizes, and promoted themes (e.g. biodiversity) and practices (e.g. no-tillage). Their results suggest that RA originated as a grassroots approach to farming that was co-opted by non-farming actors around 2020. Since 2021 the number of RA farmers has declined as the focus shifted from farming to marketing driven by multinational companies. Interaction with Policy makers was limited and most of the actors were urban-based NGO's. Among nearly 5000 cited practices, cover cropping and crop diversification dominated. They concluded that "the burden of proof for regenerative agriculture to be sustainable lies in its ability to regenerate the environment—until then, its impact remains uncertain."

This review from Romania highlights the importance of soil health for sustainable agriculture and identifies practices that result in improved soil health that includes, physical, chemical and biological properties. The explored rotation, cover crops, no-till, CA, and use of organic amendments to achieve SH properties that includes better soil structure, increased organic matter and biological diversity. Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) is vital. Their results show that CA is a better option to restore soil health than conventional systems although they mention that this topic is still controversial among scientists and farmers. 

This study from Poland looked at various tillage methods and their impact on soybean yield and quality. The four tillage methods were: a) Plowed tillage plus conventional row seeding (PCR); b) Plowed tillage plus strip till planting (PSD); c) No plough tillage + strip drill planting (NSD); and d) No-tillage + strip drill (ZSD). The paper presents the data on these 4 treatments. ZSD enhanced protein levels and stabilized protein and fat yields. They conclude that future studies should explore how tillage practices affect soil health, economic sustainability, and yield stability over time, especially under changing climatic conditions.

This paper reports on the long-term effects of different tillage practices and crop residue management on soil biological and physical health using winter wheat and a fodder radish cover crop. The experiment started in 2003 and samples taken in 2021. There were three tillage treatments: direct sowing (NT), harrowing to 10 cm H), and moldboard plowing to 20 cm (MP). Residue was either removed or left in the plots. The biological soil measures were two fatty-acid biomarkers arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)and glomalin-related soil protein (EE). Soil physical indices were water stable aggregates (WSA) and five soil pore characters and SOC. CA practices increased AMF biomass and harrowing and NT resulted in stratified SOC. Residue increased SOC levels. They conclude that their study identified the significant role of AMF in maintaining soil health.

This paper starts by saying challenges from climate change require new eco-friendly systems to make farming economic with social dimensions compatible with the environment plus ecosystem resilience. The suggest that CA can help by increasing C-sequestration in soils and plants. This research looks into the benefits of improved SOC when using CA in Portugal from the INFOSOLO legacy database was analyzed through statistical methodologies and machine-learning approaches. 

This 5 year study from Lithuania,  looked at soil physical and earthworms as indicators of soil health following conventional (CT) and no-tillage (NT) across 3 rotations; three crops per rotation (with three variants), two-crop rotation (with two variants), and monoculture winter wheat. Earthworm abundance had a strong negative association with bulk density and a positive correlation with total porosity in the upper soil layer. Earthworm numbers were similar between CT and NT. Rotations affected earthworms more than tillage with with 3 and 2 crop rotations having more earthworms than monoculture.

This paper looks at the impact of CA and fertilization on durum wheat in a dry region of the Mediterranean. They looked at two wheat genotypes and compared NT with CT and two fertilizer treatments. They then evaluated environmental, economic, technical ad quality traits. One wheat variety was better than the other. NT was better yielding than CT. Low emission fertilization did not reduce crop performance and its combination with NT showed a higher economic net return. They conclude. that these two treatments improved environmental, and economic sustainability but also the health qulaity of wheat under water limited situations.

This paper looks at the effect of cropping systems on larger macrofauna. They sampled 21 fields in France that were used for conventional, conservation or organic systems, either long-established (≥ 7 years) or in transition (≤ 3 years). Tillage, pesticide treatment and organic matter input intensity were assessed in each field. Macrofauna density and diversity, earthworm ecological categories, species richness and functional traits were investigated. They report that density and diversity showed few differences in respect to cropping systems with high variation across years and groups. They conclude that more information is needed on actual cropping systems in order to better assess the impacts of cropping systems on biodiversity.

This paper did an extensive literature review to look at the biodiversity of pulse systems and ecosystem services using different management systems in terms of food/feed provision and soil health.  Most studies examined soil quality, especially chemical quality, followed by grain yield. Very few studies surveyed biodiversity, most of which used arable flora as an indicator. Their results and conclusions showed significant positive impacts with organic farming on biodiversity, no tillage on soil health and yield, and rotations on yield.

This paper from Romania assesses changes in soil properties from a long-term field experiment established in 2009 with various tillage practices and then adapted in 2019-2022 for addition of residues. Results showed that compared to CT, conservation tillage (CA) with partial straw retention (MT) and NT with straw mulching increased SOC, total N, and available K in the 0-30cm soil depth. MT and NT only increased total P and K in the 0-10cm soil depth. The paper also looked at micro nutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn) but found little differences between tillage and residue systems. But they concluded that CA might be best for maintaining soil quality and high yields.

This paper from the UK looked at seven key mycorrhizal and endophytic fungal structures from soil samples taken from 5 mixed cover cropped and 5 conventionally managed fields growing spring beans. The cover cropped sites grew the CC in the Winter, whereas the conventional one was tilled heavily and then left fallow until planting a spring crop in March. Results showed that wherever CC were grown there were significantly higher abundance of hyphae, arbuscules, vesicles, moniliform hyphae, and microsclerotia, but not spores or chlamydospores. They conclude that "Since these structures are known to be associated with nutrient exchange, overwintering and long-term survival, energy storage, and branching and inoculation, cover cropping practices are likely to improve the functioning of mycorrhizal and endophytic fungi."

This paper describes a way to map accurately the area and fields in Belgium that practice CA management. They point out that monitoring of CA adoption is usually dependent on farmer declarations or field inspections that are not very accurate. In this paper 247 fields using CA in 2020-2021 were used to develop a classification model for predicting CA by combining remote sensing and census data. The census data provided the data for annual crops and cereals in the rotation. The paper explains what remote sensing was used to measure the extent of soil cover, soil disturbance, to construct a classification model distinguishing fields under conservation from those under conventional practices. Their results showed 15.5 % (2875 fields) out of 18,516 cropland fields can be classified as conservation agriculture. These fields tend to adopt non-inversion tillage and have diverse crop rotations.

This is another article from the Central Valley of California that assesses 20 years of conservation agriculture management that looks at soil physical, chemical and structural properties comparing reduced tillage with cover crops with conventional tillage without cover crops. In brief, the CA management achieved dynamic equilibrium characterized by fundamental shifts in carbon stabilization pathways. Water stable aggregates also exhibited 136% greater stability with CA than with CT. This paper discusses the implications of these differences. They conclude "This mechanism shift represents a new soil system equilibrium that maintains enhanced functionality and continued carbon sequestration potential in Mediterranean agricultural systems."

This paper looks at the impact of no-tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT) on soil water and physical properties in Romania using undisturbed soil columns from a field experiment that was a continuous cropping system for 8 years with a 4-year rotation (wheat, maize, sunflower and peas). Various soil physical and water measures were taken. The various measurements can be found in the paper abstract. They conclude that the "findings demonstrate that long-term NT improves key soil hydro-physical properties, supporting its integration into sustainable farming systems to balance productivity and environmental stewardship."

This long-term field experiment with Winter wheat looked at 3 tillage systems: conventional (CT), reduced (RT), and No-till (NT) since 1995. They collected data on SOC, microbial biomass, and enzymatic activity in four-year crop rotation periods from 2005-2024. There were 3 rotations: winter oil seed rape, winter wheat, pea, and winter wheat.Data was collected from 3 crop depths: 0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm. Residues were incorporated in CT, partially in RT and left as surface mulch in NT. Results showed that NT had the highest C-sequestration followed by RT and CT. The weather conditions during the year (abundance of precipitation) influenced crop yields significantly more than the tillage practices with wheat yields and N in grain the highest in CT followed by RT and lowest in NT. NT treatments increased the organic carbon and microbial activity in soils.

This study analyses and compares the economic indicators of conservation reduced tillage (CT) widely practiced in Central Europe with those of conventional ploughing tillage (PT) assessing the effects of CT compared to PT on yields and profitability from 2004-2023. The study covered 83 ha in 10 paired plots (from year 13 onwards, 76 ha in 9 paired plots), including extreme weather conditions and 6 crops. During the transitional period, profit under CT decreased by an average of 11.9% compared with PT, but subsequent periods indicated positive results, 2.3% increase in gross income and 13% higher profit. Over 20 years, material costs for CT plots were 1.9% higher and operating costs were 9.8% lower compared with PT. Their results suggest shifting to reduced tillage is worth it. It would be interesting to have seen the profits if the CA system was used in this comparison. 

This paper from Poland was based on a long-term experiment started in 1999 and evaluated in 2016-2019. The crop studied was faba bean and looked 4 tillage systems; conventional (CT), reduced (RT), strip (ST) and no-till (NT). Over the 4 years there were two favorable years and two with prolonged drought with the weather conditions affecting faba bean yields more than tillage.The highest faba bean seed yield was obtained in 2017 when they ranged from 6.73 t ha−1 in NT to 7.64 t ha−1 after ST and they conclude that NT and ST are the most sustainable. NT provides the best soil protection and
conservation, but in favorable weather conditions, it limits the yield level of faba beans.

This paper looked at a strip-till one-pass machine that regulated and monitored sowing rate and depth while applying fertilizer. The objective was to assess the accuracy of this wheat drill. They found the accuracy was 97% and 92% in lab and field tests, respectively. Field germination was 88%. The authors conclude that their machine can facilitate planting wheat in accordance with CA needs.

This paper provides an overview of the science and farmers’ expectations of conservation tillage (CST) in six European countries, including Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Poland where traditional intensive tillage results in soil erosion, loss of SOM, and soil degradation. This review looks at the adoption on CST in these countries and looks at the current progress and future prospects. CST provides adequate soil cover, minimizes erosion, and encourages biological activity and organic matter accumulation that results in improved soil productivity and resilience against additional degradation and climate variation. Results showed a high level of diversity in readiness and willingness to accept, as well as different levels of knowledge about the adoption of CST, but adoption is increasing and this represents a key way to slow soil degradation and adapt to climate change.

This paper from Germany looks at crop rotation and cover crops on SOC and N content on yields. This 10 year dataset  from 6 locations in Germany was used to calibrate the DSSAT model. They then used a 4-year crop rotation with and without legume cover crops at the research sites with a no CC as a check. Results showed that business as usual (BAU) and no CC treatments had lower (SON) and SOC than with CC's included in the rotation. Legume CC's also did better than non-legume CC's although the latter had less N leaching. winter wheat and oilseed rape crops yields were better with cover crop rotations. Crop rotation with CCs significantly increased water productivity of cereal crops, but did not produce higher yield of winter and spring barley or silage maize compared with BAU unless only legume CCs were used in certain areas that are vulnerable to N losses. 

This study from Italy initiated in 1994 looks at the long term effects of CT and NT initially on Durum wheat but added Vicia faba cover crop in 2009 in half of each tillage treatment. They monitored  microbial biomass, soluble N, and enzyme activities (EA). Between 2009 and 2018, CT yields were on average 15% higher than NT, especially during high rainfall years, but NT increased SOC in the 0-30 cm soil depth and higher levels of soluble N, dsDNA, and EAs at 0-10 cm depth. Introducing cover crops over 4 years did not yield significant impacts.They conclude that adopting NT practices resulted in higher SOC concentration, enhanced soil biological activity, and improved biogeochemical cycles, emphasizing the positive impact of NT on soil health and sustainability.

This review looks at the global scientific production for CA and how it relates to mitigation of climate change. The used 650 articles published from 1995-2022. Publications on CA during this time have resulted in significant growth in number suggested as due to increased interest in this management system. They conclude "This analysis underscores the importance of CA in addressing climate challenges and offers insights into emerging research areas, such as regional adaptations and the long-term effects of no-till systems. The findings aim to guide future research and policy development in sustainable agriculture and climate mitigation."