Conservation Agriculture Research Updates - March 2026

This paper from Iran explores the factors that are responsible for adoption of CA in Iran since they suggest this system is important for environmental sustainability and resilience. They show it helps reverse soil degradation by improving moisture retention and increasing soil organic matter. Data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed using structural equation modeling. They conclude that "attitude and self-efficacy emerged as the most significant determinants influencing farmers' decisions to adopt CA. The information will provide valuable recommendations  for policy makers hoping to promote CA. 

This paper from Iran looks at the effect of 5 years of CA managment on the quality and diversity of soil macrofauna in rainfed in semi-arid areas of Iran. Treatments included conventional moldboard tillage (CT), reduced tillage with a Delta  model and roller (RT1), Chisel plow and roller (RT2) and no-tillage. There were 3 subplots with no residue, 1/3 residue and 2/3 residue. Wheat rotated with chickpea was the cropping pattern. The results showed that no-tillage led to a significant increase in macrofauna biodiversity in both wheat and chickpea soils. Also keeping 1/3 residue led to an increase in macrofauna diversity.

This paper looks at two winter wheat varieties with rotation and tillage as treatments in Iran on an experiment station. They had three rotations with either vetch (V-W), chickpea (C-W) or safflower (S-W) and three tillage conventional (CT), minimum (MT) and no-tillage (NT). Soil moisture was highest in NT. The highest relative water content (RWC), normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI), stomatal conductance (gs), and transpiration rate (E) were obtained from the Baran genotype in the V-W rotation under NT. In the last year of the experiment, rainfall productivity in NT treatment improved by 32%, compared to CT. The V-W rotation yielded higher than C-W or S-W and is recommended along with NT for this cold dryland area.

This is an article that looks at CA for dryland chickpea cultivation. It looked at the effects of different soil management (reduced tillage (RT), no-tillage (NT), and conventional tillage (CT)) on morpho-physiological characteristics of chickpea during the 2017–2019 cropping seasons in Iran. This experiment also looked at the mycorrhizal colonization and sporulation, rhizobium nodules, and various plant physiological parameters. Theresults showed that the NT system improved relative leaf water content, reduced antioxidant enzymes, had positive effects on measured morpho-physiological traits, and increased the yield and stability of chickpea compared to RT and CT systems under rainfed conditions.

The paper looks at the role of CA - NT and residue management - on nitrous oxide (N20) emissions. They had three reside treatments - 100%, 50% and removal (0%) and two tillage treatments - CT and NT in a maize-wheat rotation in Iran. The key factors evaluated affecting N2O emissions included soil temperature, soil moisture, soil ammonium, and soil nitrate concentrations. N20 emissions rose as residue rates increased under both CT and NT. Soil moisture and mineral nitrogen content were the main factors driving N20 emissions, also in both CT and NT. They conclude for this first year of study that crop residue removal led to reduced N20 emissions. But due to the deteriorating impact of crop residue removal on crop productivity and soil C sequestration, this management method cannot be considered a sustainable agronomic practice. 

This paper reviewed and synthesized findings on CA; past trends, opportunities and challenges, potential benefits and future outlook to combat degradation of soil and water in Middle East and North Africa (MENA). They estimate that 25-40% of the 53 million ha's of arable land in this region are suitable for CA but adoption is low and the authors list some of the factors responsible for this. The wider acceptance of CA requires the development of affordable and versatile no-till seeder alongside the implementation of integrated crop management practices. CA-based bundled agronomic management practices must be tailored to the biophysical and socio-economic environment. The authors conclude by predicting a bright future for CA in the MENA region and list a number of reasons for this.

This a paper that looks at selection of suitable wheat genotypes for CA that maintain productivity under drought conditions. The screened bread and durum varieties under CT and CA for three crop seasons under rainfed conditions in Iran. The wheat cultivars performed better in conventional than conservation agriculture system with grain yield superiority varied from 4 to 35%, depending on amount and distribution pattern of precipitation over crop seasons. They concluded there was a positive interaction of genotype and traits under the two tillage systems with some traits (i.e., number of spike/m−2, SPAD reading, normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI), days to heading, 1000-kernel weight and grain filling duration)  effective in genotype adaptation to a particular system. The wheat genotypes significantly interacted with different tillage systems, implying the need for specific adaptation to tillage systems and environments.

This article explores the interaction of genotype (16 cold tolerant) and tillage (3) for chickpeas in dryland areas of Iran over three cropping seasons. Tillage treatments were moldboard with residue removed (CT); minimal tillage (MT) with a chisel plow with residue; and no-till (NT) with residue retained. Results were positive for no-till + residue with increases in SOC, potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen and soil moisture compared to the start of the experiment. There were differences in performance between the different genotypes with some better with no-till and others with MT and others with CT. Chickpea genotypes cultivated under the NT system demonstrated superior performance (41%) in comparison to those grown using conventional tillage (CT) practices during the third year.

This paper surveyed 590 farmers in Morocco, Spain, and Tunisia to explore their perceptions of soil and tillage including innovation, community, adaptive capacity, and responsibility for soil. They found out that farmers have an awareness of soil as a living resource. Beliefs about the benefits of tillage for water availability and yield persist among the surveyed farmers. They also found that openness towards innovation, perceived adaptive capacity and responsibility for soil were associated with reduced tillage, whereas community integration was not. Education, age and farm lifestyle affected perceptions. They conclude that CA promotion in the Mediterranean should emphasize the multiple values of soil, should demonstrate how sufficient yields may be achieved alongside resilience to drought, and be tailored to differing levels of environmental awareness and economic needs across north and south.

This study looks at the potential impact of drought predictions on a faba bean crop, and evaluates the adoption of conservation tillage practices to reduce this effect in dryland areas of Spain. It sampled a long-term trial that was started in 2008 and looked at soil water storage (SWS), crop productivity and mineral nutrition, plant ecophysiology and biomass quality, as well as the colonization of roots by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and symbiotic Rhizobium bacteria. It sampled the non-tillage (NT), reduced tillage (RT) and traditional tillage (TT)- and rainfall reduction treatments. The percentage of biomass yield reduction by rainfall exclusion was 30% for NT, 50% for RT and 20% for TT. They conclude that, despite no effect on soil water storage, in the conservation tillage systems the increase in the mycorrhizal colonization in roots, particularly under NT, could be beneficial for plants to face drought stress. However, in a scenario of reduced rainfall it will be necessary to invest more resources in weed control under RT.

This paper looks at the response of 13 winter wheat genotypes (old, relatively old, modern and breeding lines) under CT w/o residue; reduced tillage (RT) with residue; and NT with residue retained. This evaluation was done on farmer fields under rainfed conditions over two cropping seasons. The increased grain yields achieved in combination with lower costs and greater profits from conservation agriculture suggest that adapted cultivars should be evaluated under NT systems and promoted more widely to farmers in Iran and included in the strategies and objectives of winter wheat breeding programs for the temperate and cold dryland conditions of Iran.

This study collected data from a long-term experiment in a semi-arid region of Tunisia. Their results showed that no-till (NT) increased soil organic carbon, soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC), arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal root (AMF) colonization and soil microbial respiration in the 0-20 cm topsoil compared to CT. In addition the rotations Faba bean-Durum wheat-Barley and Faba bean-Durum wheat increased SMBC, AMF and respiration. They conclude that the current results highlight the benefit of adoption of minimum or (NT) combined with crop diversification on soil health.

This study uses an endogenous switching regression model to a nationally representative sample of 1901 wheat fields in Morocco to analyze the impacts of partial or full adoption of all three components of the CA system. Model results show that adoption of the complete CA system leads to 307 kg/ha (35 %) higher yields, US$99/ha (44 %) higher gross margins, and 23 kg/capita/year (38 %) more consumption of wheat relative to the conventional system. Adopting only two of the 3 pillars also leads to improved livelihood indicators compared to adoption of only one or none of the pillars. But adoption of one pillar is better than none. They conclude transition from the conventional system to CA requires the following: (1) flexibility to let farmers incrementally adopt one or more of the CA components, learn at their own pace, use some of the benefits, and improve it over time to exploit the full potential of the CA system with close follow-up and technical support from experts and extension specialists; and (2) sustained policy and institutional supports that provide incentives for farmers to adopt and for the private sector to be actively involved, especially in service provision.

This study from Iran looked at the characteristics of the farmers who participated in a CA project based on a learning transfer system using a survey. They divided the into three groups, weak, moderate and strong learning transfer and then used discriminant analysis to see differences. Nine variables were identified as having significant affects  on farmer's level of learning.