Conservation Agriculture Research Updates - March 2026

This 3-year study was undertaken in northern Italy. Bulk density (BD), penetration resistance (PR), soil hydraulic saturated conductivity, and sorptivity were used to evaluate soil quality obtained by combining three tillage intensities (conventional tillage – CT; minimum tillage – MT; no tillage – NT) with three winter soil coverings (bare soil – BS; tillage radish cover crop – TR; winter wheat cover crop – WW). Reduced tillage coupled with WW improved soil physical properties even below the tilled layer, as evidenced by root-growth-limiting condition reductions. They conclude that, despite the increase in BD and PR due to reduced tillage, the strategy improved soil functioning and particularly soil hydraulic conductivity. In the short term, the WW cover crop moderately increased physical soil parameters, whereas TR had negligible effects. This study demonstrates that, to quantify CA, several soil physical parameters should be monitored.

This study from China looked at long-term straw mulching under a no-till system  on soil physicochemical and biological properties at different soil depths (0-30 cm in 10cm increments) in a no-till rice-wheat system. Straw was removed (CK) or mulched (SM) in this 12-year study. Organic carbon, nutrients, and bacterial abundance were reduced by depth, but pH increased. SM significantly increased total N, inorganic N, available P, available potassium, and soil water content at 0-5 cm, total organic C content at 0-10 cm, and dissolved organic C and N contents at 0-20 cm compared to CK. The study also reports data on the effect of SM vs CK on various bacterial groups. Overall, they conclude that the SM treatment is highly recommended under a no-till system because of its benefits to soil fertility and bacterial abundance.

This paper looks at adoption of agricultural technology rather than specifically CA, but their findings are relevant for CA as well. The contend that adoption of many seemingly beneficial technologies remain low. This study looks at various reasons that explain adoption from 367 regression models from published literature. They find that farmer education, household size, land size, access to credit, land tenure, access to extension services, and organization membership positively correlate with the adoption of many agricultural technologies. Improved varieties and chemical inputs are adopted more readily on larger farms, which casts doubt on the scale-neutrality of these technologies. Credit can positively influence adoption, but researchers should measure whether farmers are credit constrained, rather than simply whether or not they have access to credit. They conclude that efforts to promote agricultural technologies in the developing world must be adapted to suit local agricultural and cultural contexts. 

This is an interesting chapter 2 in a book entitled Advances in Organic Farming, that looks at recent findings, advantages, drawbacks, and opportunities for introduction of CA into Organic Farming. Advantages include less erosion and degradation due to improved soil structure, increase in soil carbon stock, diversity of macro- and micro-organisms, and reduction in nutrient loss through run-off and leaching. But since CA and OF have contrasting strategies there are difficulties that need to be overcome. These include weed control, soil compaction, slow mineralization rate, restricted choice of crops, unavailable equipment, low incentives and funding, and links to organic markets. 

This is an interesting article that looks at custom hiring centers (CHC) for mechanization in Nepal and South Asia (India and China). The paper reports that there has been minimal reliable reporting or evidence on the success of their efforts. Yet, there is very good reason to believe that with refined backstopping and informed selection, CHCs can be successfully used to provide mechanization access for underserved geographical areas and their communities. The paper ends with recommendations, observations and considerations for policy and agricultural development professionals and the existing CHC's management committees (MCs) around establishing and/or the improving CHCs and their management.

This long-term experiment (14 years) combined fertilization rate (no, low and high N fertilizer, N0, N1 and N2), straw additions (no, low and high addition, S0, S1 and S2) with conservation tillage (no-tillage, NT) in the North China Plain. A Denitrification Decomposition model (DNDC) was used with the data collected and then applied  to simulate the changes of crop yields, soil organic carbon (SOC), and N2O emissions under different management practices combined with climate change scenarios, under low and high emission scenarios of societal development pathways (SSP245 and SSP585, respectively) with climate projections from 2031 to 2100. They conclude that CA can potentially offset crop yield reductions, increase soil quality, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the NCP, and ensure crop production to meet the growing demand for food under future climate change.

This paper assessed the soil microbiota in a long-term, 42 year tillage and fertilization experiment under continuous maize in Romania. A nearby grassland area was used as a check. Measures of overall microbial biomass carbon (Cmic) for community size and ergosterol as a proxy for saprophytic biomass were taken. The Cmic/ergosterol ratio was used to determine community structure. Results showed that no till is characterized by an increase in Cmic compared to chisel and mouldboard plough (+31% and + 16%, respectively). Cmic of the grassland was more than double the microbial biomass of experimental plots. Ergosterol concentration showed the same tendency as overall microbial biomass across tillage treatments, however the impact was statistically significant only between zero tillage and chisel plough (+51%). Moderate nitrogen fertilization (60 kg/ha) induced no significant effect whatsoever, a consequence that is attributed to the rather low dose applied.

This paper aims to provide evidence that payments for ecosystem services encourage the adoption of conservation practices like CA. By providing financial incentives, this paper demonstrates that it is possible to  increase the extent and intensity of CA adoption. Also mechanisms that leverage social networks for the consolidation of fragmented land may be more effective at bringing more land under conservation objectives. They also demonstrate that some of the supposed weaknesses hindering the adoption of CA – lower yields in the short-run and higher expenditures on weed control – were not necessarily obstacles in their study area. They suggest that the provision of subsidies need not continue into perpetuity, but may only be needed to overcome short-term transition costs.

This paper reports on the eukaryotic community diversity in small  (sM) and occluded micro-aggregates (mM) following 23 years of reduced versus conventional tillage and 0 and 200 kg of nitrogen in a wheat soybean rotation. They found a different eukaryote diversity response to management intensification across soil aggregates and soil depths; (ii) a conserved core community composition of eukaryotes across CA treatments and aggregates at surface and subsurface layers; (iii) a different effect of tillage on eukaryotic community structure in sM and mM along the soil profile according to N availability; (iv) a positive association of protists, and fungi with the amount of sM and mM, and their SOC content; (v) a stronger complexity of within- and cross-domain networks (eukaryotes and eukaryotes-prokaryotes) in mM than in sM at surface layer.

This is a valuable paper describing aspects of the use of service providers to enable smallholder farmers to adopt new technologies and scale up adoption. It uses direct seeded rice (DSR) in Eastern India as a case study. This study explores with zero tillage drill owners the decision processes they apply in deciding how to use their zero tillage drills. Respondents highlight a complex web of interrelated considerations that highlight the additional complexities of DSR as compared to existing practices. They conclude that the methods they used would be useful for exploring other other farmer decision making.

This study looked at the inclusion of cowpea cover crop under NT and RT in a maize-maize-mustard rotation to determine if it would enhance yield, energy-use efficiency, water productivity while reducing GHG emissions. No-till-live mulch had 36.4% less energy requirement, and 2.4 times more energy productivity than conventional tillage. CT had the highest net CO2-eq emission while NT-live mulch had the lowest. 

This paper looks at two tillage treatments, NT and CT, on 4 crop covers; monocrop maize, monocrop soybean, rotated maize, and intercrop of maize and soybean on infiltration of water. Tillage and crop cover both affected infiltration with NT infiltration better than CT. The authors conclude that NT with greater cover improves infiltration and soil water storage.

This study explores the farmers' experiences and drivers for adoption of CA in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia through57 qualitative and semi-structured interviews of farmers presently using CA practices across 6 locations. To overcome various hurdles for adoption responders adopted various strategies to improve adoption. Some farmers assumed the role of educator and shared their knowledge with others. They highlighted the need for stover retention,  self investment, and communal purchase of equipment. The farmers listed a number of benefits from adopting CA including improved socio-economic conditions, respect in the community and more free time to do other things. The farmers also improved their links with agricultural institutions in the country.

This chapter in a new book entitled "Microbiome Under Changing Climate" looks at how microorganisms are affected by climate smart practices. This includes affects on GHG emissions. They provide a systematic selection of novel experimental studies to highlight the impact of climate change consequences such as elevated CO2, temperature, and drought on microbial functions in different agroecosystems. They also describe the role of microbes in CSA strategies that influence yield, carbon sequestration, GHG mitigation and climate change adaptation.

This report from Spain in a semi-arid agro-ecosystem looked at different nutrient sources under minimum tillage. Organic amendments were compared with mineral fertilizes over a 5-year crop rotation using wheat. Wheat yield and biomass, and several soil properties were measured (pH, soil nutrients, soil organic matter  potentially mineralizable nitrogen, total microbial activity and heavy metals) throughout the 10-year study. Wheat yield was better under organic compared to mineral fertilizer. The application of organic amendments under MT resulted in a promising management agro-ecosystem compared to the mineral fertilized because crop nutrients came from organic wastes, no herbicides were applied while the yields were higher.

This study looks at the issue of weed control in CA systems that has labor and costs of production problems. This study looked at a CA based rice (direct seeded)-wheat-mungbean cropping pattern over two years of study. The goals were to study the types and distribution of weeds in non-puddled rice and following strip-tilled wheat fields, and to find the most economic way to manage the weeds in both crops. The latter goal included using herbicides. The most most effective treatments involved two herbicides with one applied pre- and one post emergent in wheat and two other herbicides in direct seeded rice also applied pre- and post-emergent.

This paper starts by saying Green Revolution (GR) agriculture is faltering and needs to be replaced to meet the needs of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It describes the role of CA in accomplishing this goal. They explain that CA can raise productivity, reduce inputs, regenerate degraded land, reduce erosion, and improve the flow of ecosystem services and so contribute to several SDGs. It highlights that CA is spreading globally at an annual rate of about 10 mHa per year. In 2015-16 it was estimated to cover 180 Mha with 48% in the Global South. It further discusses what is needed for CA to contribute to SDGs to contribute to lasting  quality of human life and nature.

This paper from India looked at the long term effect of various CA practices on infiltration of water using modeling. Treatments included a check (CT), Permanent narrow beds (PNB) and wide beds (PBB) with and without residue (+R) and NT. The initial and cumulative infiltration rates were highest in the PBB+R treatment and lowest in CT. Bed planting with residue was better than BP without residue that was better than NT without residue. After checking the model performance, it was found that simple empirical Kostiakov (1932) infiltration model represented the infiltration rate and time relationship in a better way and characterized the best fit with the experimentally observed field infiltration data.

This field experiment evaluated energy budgeting, carbon footprints (CF) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rice-wheat cropping systems under long-term tillage and residue management practices in NW India. There were 3 tillage treatments; CT, RT and NT, with and without residue retention. Energy consumption ranged from 51.87 GJ ha−1 (ZT-R) to 64.91 GJ ha−1 (CT + R) and irrigation water was the major energy intensive input (41–44%) followed by chemical fertilizer (32–40%). Overall, switching from CT–R to ZT + R lowered energy consumption (19%), GHG emission (16%) and carbon footprint (78%), making it the best-bet option for climate change mitigation and global warming related environmental protection.

This paper presents overview findings from trans-disciplinary research projects from Southern, East, and West Africa to evaluate the potential importance of integrated participatory soil health studies designed to inform context-specific recommendations and policies for resilient African food systems. The paper identifies how integrated research can help shared learning and knowledge exchange required for upscaling sustainable land management practices enabled through enhanced farmer participation.

This paper looked at GHG emissions in a controlled traffic situation, adopted to avoid soil compaction effects on the crops, and with regulated deficit irrigation (RDI), adopted to conserve water in an irrigated maize-cropping and fallow periods on a long-term tillage, 2-year experiment in Spain. The two tillage treatments were CT with residues incorporated and NT with surface residues with both combined with controlled traffic. There were also two irrigation treatments; full (FL) and regulated deficit (RDI). Results showed that in the short term, soil CO2 effluxes were higher in CTR than in ZTR after soil preparation and during crop growth, although only significantly in the first case. However, accumulated CO2 emission during the cropping period (163 days) was 1.8 times higher for CTR than ZTR (2126 and 1177 g m−2, respectively). NT plus controlled traffic reduced CO2 emissions.

This article looks at permanent bed planting (PBP) to improve soil quality, soil moisture conservation and stabilize yields of wheat in furrow irrigated systems in Mexico. It also looks at pre-irrigation (wet) and post-irrigation (dry) strategies in Durum wheat comparing conventional tillage and PBP (NT). They used 4 tillage-sowing irrigation and 5 nitrogen treatments over 3 years. The lowest germination was found in PBP-dry and the lowest yield. N fertilization management affected wheat quality, but not wheat yield, possibly due to high levels of soil mineral N available at sowing that were not measured in this study. They suggest research should address reduced plant stands with dry sowing in conservation agriculture to find management options that improve wheat emergence.

This article quantifies the effect of Best Management Practices (BMPs) on crop productivity, income, water saving and water balance components and identifies gaps for future research by reviewing 108 published studies from South Asia. Adoption of conservation measures helped enhance crop yields by 200–1000 kg/ha, reduced cost of cultivation and enhanced incomes by US$ 10–200/ha/year. They also enabled annual water saving in the range of 50 mm to 300 mm by either conserving residual soil moisture or saving irrigation water resulting in enhanced water productivity. Direct seeding rice and laser leveling were effective in water saving and reducing costs of production. Rain water harvesting was also a valuable practice. They conclude that the review revealed the ample scope of integrating in situ and ex situ interventions to build system-level resilience in smallholder farming systems.

This paper by a renowned soil scientist looks at regenerative agriculture (for 5-10 years) compared to conventional Synthetic fertilizer, and herbicide). They used paired farms with these two practices across the USA and found soil health and crop nutrient density differences. Farms that used CA produced crops with higher SOM, soil health scores, and levels of nutrient density in the crops. Their data support the conclusion that regenerative agriculture (using CA) enhance the nutritional profiles of plant and animal foods.

This long term no-till article in Kentucky used a agroecosystem model along with environmental datasets to quantify effects of NT on yield and GHG emissions in corn-soybean cropping systems. Tillage scenarios were CT and NT. Overall, NT reduced soil CO2 (−1.6% for corn and −4.53% for soybean) and N2O emissions (−10.5% for corn and −19.6% for soybean) compared to CT. However, corn and soybean yields with NT were not significantly different from those with CT. The summary does no indicate residue management that is important in helping with SOM accumulation and improved soil health. The authors conclude that the findings provide insights into how NT can enhance agroecosystem production stability and support climate change mitigation. 

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