Techniques and machines for conservation and organic agriculture: the S.M.O.C.A. project.

The combination of low environmental impact farming techniques and conservation agriculture techniques is considered not feasible due to some limitations, mainly including is the strong dependence of conservation cropping systems by chemical control of weeds and the use of mineral fertilizers, which are considered essential for supporting to acceptable levels of crop productions. In order to apply the techniques of reduced tillage also in organic and integrated agriculture, is therefore indispensable, on one hand, the availability of specific versatile and efficient machines for non-chemical cover-crop management, weed control and sod-seeding/planting, on the other hand, the optimization of cropping systems in function of improved nutrient cycling and preventive weed control. The SMOCA project (Smart Management Conservation of Organic Agriculture) aims to integrate organic cropping systems and conservation agriculture techniques in three different scenarios (arable open field, open field vegetables and orchards) thanks to development of machines and technical itineraries that allow to apply the reduced tillage techniques even in the absence of pesticides. Within this project, prototypes of machines were realized in order to implement conservation cropping systems with high energy efficiency. For each scenario, three technical itineraries were compared: - control (INT): based on integrated agriculture without use of conservation agriculture techniques. The use of agrochemicals is allowed in accordance with the disciplinary for integrated production; - organic system (ORG): based on the organic agriculture, involves the use of cover crops (managed as green manure) and soil tillage. The non chemical management of weed flora is achieved with preventive methods and direct methods (mechanical and thermal weed control); - organic and conservation system (ORG +): based on the deep integration between the principles of conservation agriculture and organic farming. The system aims to achieve an almost continuous coverage of the soil through the use of no-tillage techniques and cover crops managed as living or dead mulches. The study of the overall sustainability of the different systems in comparison is conducted by means of a detailed analysis of the following aspects: - agronomic; - energy and environmental; - economic. The environmental effect of the compared systems will be mainly assessed through the study of the following aspects: greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient balance, preservation of soil quality, biological nitrogen fixation, conservation of water resources in the soil and the life cycle assessment (LCA). The efficiency and the impact of different management techniques are also continuously monitored on the orchard and vegetable crops through the study of the fruits of growth dynamics, thanks to an innovative methodology that uses a network of growth sensors spatially distributed in the field. The final product quality is also evaluated through the analysis of their levels of nutraceutical compounds. The research project is still ongoing and the prototypes of machines realized are presented in this paper

Integrazione di tecniche di agricoltura biologica e conservativa in sistemi colturali con crescente intensità ecologica: il progetto F.I.R.B. SMOCA

Il progetto SMOCA (Smart Management of Organic Conservative Agriculture) (2014- 2017) mira ad incrementare la sostenibilità dei sistemi colturali integrati/biologici mediante l’introduzione di tecniche di agricoltura conservativa, finalizzate alla riduzione dei consumi energetici e al miglioramento della fertilità del terreno. In SMOCA saranno sviluppate macchine e strategie agronomiche innovative che permettano di applicare le tecniche di lavorazione ridotta anche in assenza di mezzi chimici di sintesi

Cereal-pea intercrops to improve sustainability in bioethanol production

International audienceThe environmental performance of second-generation biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass, such as crop residues, is foreseen to be superior to that of first-generation biofuels such as maize bioethanol. Moreover, using a legume as an intercrop can reduce costly N fertilizers inputs and can increase the N content of the straw mixture. Therefore, we studied cereal-legume intercrops as a source of food grain and straw bioethanol. We grew field pea and four cultivars of durum wheat, triticale, oat, and barley. Crops were grown during 2 years as a sole crop, in additive intercrop with 100 % of the sole crop density for the cereal and 50 % of sole crop density for the legume, and in replacement intercrop with 50 % of the sole crop density for each crop. Tall cereal cultivars were preferred over shorter cereals for an extra production of straw. Results show that growth resources were used up to 23–26 % more efficiently in intercrop than in sole crop for grain and straw production. Tall cereal cultivars suppressed legume yields in intercrops, thus reducing potential intercrop advantages. Pea in intercrop increased straw mixture N by 54 % the first year and by 91 % the second year, versus cereal alone

Agronomic performance and yield stability of pea-barley intercropping in European organic farming system.

Intercropping of cereal and grain legumes in European cropping system (INTERCROP) is an European Project in which a multidisciplinary team of scientist conducts research on intercropping under different regional organic cropping systems. The project’s core experiments was a field trial in which pea and barley were intercropped in spring sowing and compared with respective sole crops during 2003-2005. One of the main deliverables of the Project (Workpackage 2) was the evaluation of agronomic performance of intercrop in term of yield advantage and yield stability. Results of this activity carried out, in five European Countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom) in the basic field experiments, are presented in this contribution