No-till Farming Systems for Sustainable Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities

638 Pages·2020·18.911 MB·English

by  Yash P. Dang, Ram C. Dalal, Neal W. Menzies

Yash P. Dang
Ram C. Dalal
Neal W. Menzies  Editors
No-till Farming
Systems
for Sustainable
Agriculture
Challenges and Opportunities
No-till Farming Systems for Sustainable
Agriculture
Yash P. Dang • Ram C. Dalal • Neal W. Menzies
Editors
No-till Farming Systems for
Sustainable Agriculture
Challenges and Opportunities
Editors
Yash P. Dang Ram C. Dalal
School of Agriculture and Food Sciences School of Agriculture and Food Sciences
The University of Queensland The University of Queensland
St Lucia, QLD, Australia St Lucia, QLD, Australia
Neal W. Menzies
School of Agriculture and Food Sciences
The University of Queensland
St Lucia, QLD, Australia
ISBN 978-3-030-46408-0 ISBN 978-3-030-46409-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46409-7
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Foreword
The expected increase in global population to 9.7 billion by 2050 years represents a
significant threat to global food security, particularly in developing countries. This
expectation highlights an urgency to boost food production in a world where the
opportunity to expand the area for agriculture is limited and existing agricultural
land is threatened by land degradation, water resource scarcity and increases in cli-
mate variability. Thus, to meet the world’s need for greater food demand, agricul-
tural systems will be required to evolve to increase production with greater
sustainability.
The No-Till (NT) farming system is about reducing cultivation, retaining plant
cover and diversification of crop rotations. This is one approach that has the poten-
tial to help global agriculture achieve the sustainable intensification required to
meet the world food demand. The NT system allows for greater soil water storage,
improved soil quality and decreased erosion, most often resulting in greater yield
and net farm income. It has the potential to help ensure future food production and
buffer agricultural productivity against the extreme climate events such as drought
and heat waves, which are predicted to increase in frequency.
Despite its obvious advantages, the widespread implementation of NT systems
remains a challenge in many world regions. It requires a different approach that
needs to be well adapted to local conditions in order to operate successfully. Even
in situations where the knowledge exists on how to make the NT system function
agronomically, often social and economic barriers prevent its successful implemen-
tation at a farmer level. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of how to make the
NT system function within social, economic and agronomic constraints is required
to promote its wide spread adaptation and boost global food production
sustainably.
This book provides a comprehensive compendium of global research on No-Till
Farming Systems with contributors from around the globe, providing insight into its
benefits as well as challenges from both agronomic, social and economic perspec-
tives. Importantly, it also contains a series of chapters detailing the characteristics
and future requirements of NT systems across different geographical and climatic
location, authored by expert NT practitioners from these regions.
v
vi Foreword
There is no doubt how we farm in the future will need to change. I firmly believe
that this book is a remarkable compilation of expert opinions from around the world
which will prove to be a great resource in the promotion and expansion of the NT
farming system worldwide. It will work as an invaluable reference to help practitio-
ners who are grappling with the challenges of food production in a world increas-
ingly impacted by climate change.
Manager (Soils, Nutrition, Agronomy and Farming Systems) John Rochecouste
Grains Research & Development Corporation,
Barton, ACT, Australia
Preface
The no-till (NT) farming system is a holistic approach that incorporates minimum
soil disturbance, stubble retention and appropriate crop rotations to enhance the
quality of our natural resources, including soil, water and air, and energy to ensure
that future generations will have food security. No-till farming systems have dem-
onstrated advantages in economic, social, environmental and soil health aspects
over conventional tillage. Global agriculture is faced with new challenges and
opportunities. Key among these are global food security and climate change. The
world population is projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, which will require sus-
tained increases in food production. However, at the same time, crop yields are
predicted to fall by 5% with each degree increase in temperature. Climate change
may impact all four dimensions of food security: availability, access, utilisation and
system stability. Developing a resilient food system requires a holistic, long-term
perspective with other co-benefits. No-till farming systems have been demonstrated
to improve food production and have the potential to preserve soil carbon to improve
soil health and productivity. No-tillage is thus a critically important management
practice in our complex agricultural production system.
Extensive research, development and extension (R, D & E) activities to refine
and promote NT systems have led to an exponential increase in the rate of adoption
over the past three decades. However, there are still significant agronomic, eco-
nomic and/or social challenges that limit large-scale worldwide adoption. The prin-
ciples of NT systems are universal, but the solutions are local and revolve around
carbon cycling using a systems approach. Efforts are required to develop site-
specific management practices to alleviate biophysical and socio-economic barriers.
The principles of NT systems should ideally be integrated and applied continuously
for improved carbon management and long-term sustainability. This means avoid-
ing tillage whenever possible, although some soils may have ‘natural resilience’ that
allows an occasional tillage event with minimum impact on soil, agronomy and the
environment.
There are voluminous publications that cover R, D & E into NT farming systems
and these continue to emerge. This is particularly important in terms of NT as a land
management practice, and is important for the sustainable use of agricultural land
vii
viii Preface
Fig. 1 Outline showing
the four major book No-Till Systems
sections: Agronomy; Soil
Management; Social,
economic, and policy
issues; and Lessons learnt Soil Social,
and regional case studies Agronomy Management economic and
policy issues
Lessons Learnt
and Regional
Case Studies
whilst ensuring food security with increasing adoption of this practice. Although
global adoption of NT systems is increasing, they still only cover 12.5% of crop-
lands. In order to promote the continued uptake of NT, innovative and environmen-
tal approaches are required. As a result, we have collated global information on the
latest developments on NT farming systems in this book. The content of this book
is divided into 4 sections (Fig. 1) and 35 chapters.
The chapters in this book examine in detail the agronomic and soil management
issues that need to be resolved to ensure the successful implementation of NT sys-
tems and the challenges and opportunities associated with their use. In addition, the
economic, environmental, social and policy considerations that are important for the
successful development and implementation of NT are discussed. Finally, a series
of case studies showcasing the development and implementation of NT systems in
different world regions are presented to highlight the challenges and opportunities
for NT introduction and how these vary depending on climate and geopolitical loca-
tion. This book provides a comprehensive summary of our knowledge of NT sys-
tems and outlines the future research needs and opportunities in order to increase
the uptake of NT farming systems worldwide.
We would like to thank Springer Nature team, Ms Marleen Moore, Ms Melania
Ruiz, Ms Takeesha Moreland-Torpey and Ms Malini Arumugam, for their invalu-
able support in developing and finalising this project.
It was a long journey, which seemed very challenging at times; however, a very
generous support of our volunteer contributors to this book has made this possible.
We would like to thank all the contributors for their time and valuable scientific
input during this journey.
Finally, and importantly, we acknowledge the most diligent and consistent sup-
port of Dr Kathryn Page, who worked on the project tirelessly and meticulously.
Once again, we appreciate all the support and collaboration to deliver this book.
St Lucia, QLD, Australia Yash P. Dang
Ram C. Dalal
Neal W. Menzies
Contents
Part I Agronomy
1 No-till Farming Systems for Sustainable
Agriculture: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Yash P. Dang, Kathryn L. Page, Ram C. Dalal, and Neal W. Menzies
2 Managing Crop Rotations in No-till Farming Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Leonard Rusinamhodzi
3 Challenges and Opportunities in Managing Crop
Residue for Multiple Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Raj Setia, Bhupinder Pal Singh, and Naveen Gupta
4 Managing Cover Crops in No-Till Farming Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Paul DeLaune
5 Challenges and Opportunities in Fertilizer Placement
in No-Till Farming Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Robert M. Norton
6 Selecting and Managing No-Till Planters and Controlled
Traffic Farming in Extensive Grain Production Systems . . . . . . . . . . 83
J. Ross Murray, Jeff N. Tullberg, and Diogenes L. Antille
7 Challenges and Opportunities for Weed Management
in No-Till Farming Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Vivek Kumar, Gulshan Mahajan, Sahil Dahiya,
and Bhagirath S. Chauhan
8 Challenges and Opportunities in Managing Pests
in No-Till Farming Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Ebony G. Murrell
ix
x Contents
9 Challenges and Opportunities in Managing Diseases
in No-Till Farming Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
M. Kathryn Turner
10 Strategic Tillage for the Improvement of No-Till
Farming Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Charles S. Wortmann and Yash P. Dang
11 Developing Organic Minimum Tillage Farming Systems
for Central and Northern European Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Stephan M. Junge, Johannes Storch, Maria R. Finckh,
and Jan H. Schmidt
Part II Soil Management
12 Controlling Soil Erosion Using No-Till Farming Systems . . . . . . . . . . 195
Steffen Seitz, Volker Prasuhn, and Thomas Scholten
13 No-Till Farming Systems for Enhancing Soil Water Storage . . . . . . . 213
Samuel I. Haruna and Stephen H. Anderson
14 Enhancing Soil Aggregation in No-Till Farming Systems . . . . . . . . . . 233
Humberto Blanco-Canqui
15 Resilient and Dynamic Soil Biology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Alwyn Williams, Frederik van der Bom, and Anthony J. Young
16 E arthworms in No-Till: The Key to Soil Biological Farming . . . . . . . 267
Jacqueline L. Stroud
17 P esticide Retention, Degradation, and Transport Off-Farm . . . . . . . 281
D. Mark Silburn
Part III Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
18 No-Till Systems to Sequester Soil Carbon:
Potential and Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Kathryn L. Page, Yash P. Dang, Neal W. Menzies,
and Ram C. Dalal
19 No-Till Farming Systems to Reduce Nitrous Oxide
Emissions and Increase Methane Uptake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Daniel Plaza-Bonilla, Jorge Álvaro-Fuentes, Jorge Lampurlanés,
José Luis Arrúe, and Carlos Cantero-Martínez
20 Soil Carbon Sequestration as an Elusive Climate
Mitigation Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Brian Murphy