Green Carbon: Making sustainable agriculture real

The concept of sustainable development has evolved from a mere movement for the protection of the environment, to other multidimensional approaches. Indeed, today it calls for a holistic approach, seeking to preserve and improve not only the environment, but also to achieve social equity and economic sustainability. In Europe, society demands quality and safe products, not only in the industrial sector but also in agriculture. According to FAO, sustainable agriculture development is a key element of the new global challenges to meet human food security needs at 2050. Unsustainable practices based on intensive soil tillage and agro-chemical applications have increased agri-environmental risks. Whereas world’s food needs are expected to increase by 70% by 2050, agricultural land in Europe will also have to face environmental, economic and social challenges related to sustainable agriculture. As a result, in the EU 2020 Strategy, it is expressed that the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is required to contribute to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, enhancing social well-being, providing ecosystem services, managing resources sustainably while avoiding environmental degradation. There is broad consensus within the scientific sector that human actions generate a large portion of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, causing global warming. Certainly, Kyoto Protocol states it. According to the European Environmental Agency (EEA), there has been a decrease of 17% in GHG emissions between 1990 and 2009. However, EEA also stressed the importance of the agricultural contribution to total emissions (10.3%). The fossil fuel used in agricultural field operations, along with increasing CO2 emissions from soil through tillage, are considered to be one of the main direct sources of GHG emissions from agriculture sector. Increased inputs required to sustain conventional agriculture also adds significantly to total GHG emissions. Therefore, intensification of production through tillage, agro-chemicals and heavy machinery, which characterizes conventional agriculture in Europe, strongly contributes to increased net GHG emissions instead of mitigating global warming. Sustainable agricultural soil management is crucial for mitigating climate change, especially for the restoration of lost soil organic carbon. In fact, "Agricultural soils management" is recognized as one of the 15 most promising technology options for reducing GHG emissions in the COM (2005) 35 final "Winning the battle against global climate change." The Green Carbon Conference aims to show sustainable management of agricultural soils can help to agriculture mitigate and adapt to climate change, being compatible with the objectives of environmental protection, enhancing biodiversity and supporting farmers’ welfare along with many other environmental, economic and social benefits. Over the last decade, Conservation Agriculture has become known as a set of interlinked agricultural practices, of no or minimum mechanical soil disturbance, maintenance of soil mulch cover, and diversified cropping system, capable of: (a) overcoming several of the severe sustainability limitations of conventional agriculture; and (b) raising productivity, enhancing resilience, reducing degradation and increasing the flow of ecosystem services. The discussion around both the Soil Thematic Strategy initiated in 2002, and the JRC SoCo (Soil Conservation) project clearly recognized the potential of Conservation Agriculture in mitigating and even reversing the problems of soil erosion, soil organic matter decline, soil compaction, loss of biodiversity, climate change vulnerability, among others. Whereas Conservation Agriculture is now practiced successfully on more than 125 million hectares worldwide, Europe has shown to be reluctant with regard to its adoption, despite many promising results confirming its suitability in Europe. Therefore, this European Conference on Green Carbon provides an opportunity to take a leap forward in terms of sharing farmers experiences on Conservation Agriculture across Europe, reviewing the recent progress made in knowledge generation regarding Conservation Agriculture, and to disseminate the outcomes of the currently running LIFE+ Agricarbon (LIFE08 ENV/E/000129). The slogan of ‘Green Carbon’ chosen for this Conference attempts to clarify and highlight the indivisible yet vital link between soil organic carbon and the role that soil health plays in the sustainability of agricultural production and in the flow of ecosystem services. Nevertheless, the topics addressed by the Green Carbon Conference are not only related to the importance of soil organic carbon for the overall soil quality and health, but also include other sustainability issues intimately related to the role of soil carbon such as landscape scale ecosystem functions and services, climate change mitigation and carbon offset, and economic aspects. This Conference also seeks to alert and inform EU policy stakeholders and technical officers of the urgent need to adopt sustainable soil and production practices of Conservation Agriculture to contribute to the objectives of Europe 2020, the EU's growth strategy for the coming decades

Mobilizing Greater Crop and Land Potentials Sustainably

The supply side of the food security engine is the way we farm. The current engine of conventional tillage farming is faltering and needs to be replaced. This presentation will address supply side issues of agriculture to meet future agricultural demands for food and industry using the alternate no-till Conservation Agriculture (CA) paradigm (involving no-till farming with mulch soil cover and diversified cropping) that is able to raise productivity sustainably and efficiently, reduce inputs, regenerate degraded land, minimise soil erosion, and harness the flow of ecosystem services. CA is an ecosystems approach to farming capable of enhancing not only the economic and environmental performance of crop production and land management, but also promotes a mindset change for producing ‘more from less’, the key attitude towards sustainable production intensification. CA is now spreading globally in all continents at an annual rate of 10 Mha and covers some 157 Mha of cropland. Today global agriculture produces enough food to feed three times the current population of 7.21 billion. In 1976, when the world population was 4.15 billion, world food production far exceeded the amount necessary to feed that population. However, our urban and industrialised lifestyle leads to wastage of food of some 30%-40%, as well as waste of enormous amount of energy and protein while transforming crop-based food into animal-derived food; we have a higher proportion of people than ever before who are obese; we continue to degrade our ecosystems including much of our agricultural land of which some 400 Mha is reported to be abandoned due to severe soil and land degradation; and yields of staple cereals appear to have stagnated. These are signs of unsustainability at the structural level in the society, and it is at the structural level, for both supply side and demand side, that we need transformed mind sets about production, consumption and distribution. CA not only provides the possibility of increased crop yields for the low input smallholder farmer, it also provides a pro-poor rural and agricultural development model to support agricultural intensification in an affordable manner. For the high output farmer, it offers greater efficiency (productivity) and profit, resilience and stewardship. For farming anywhere, it addresses the root causes of agricultural land degradation, sub-optimal ecological crop and land potentials or yield ceilings, and poor crop phenotypic expressions or yield gaps. As national economies expand and diversify, more people become integrated into the economy and are able to access food. However, for those whose livelihoods continue to depend on agriculture to feed themselves and the rest of the world population, the challenge is for agriculture to produce the needed food and raw material for industry with minimum harm to the environment and the society, and to produce it with maximum efficiency and resilience against abiotic and biotic stresses, including those arising from climate change. There is growing empirical and scientific evidence worldwide that the future global supplies of food and agricultural raw materials can be assured sustainably at much lower environmental and economic cost by shifting away from conventional tillage-based food and agriculture systems to no-till CA-based food and agriculture systems. To achieve this goal will require effective national and global policy and institutional support (including research and education)

Making Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptability Real in Africa with Conservation Agriculture

In this report, the authors have gathered essential information on how the agricultural sector can respond to climate change through Conservation Agriculture (CA). This document aims to serve as a basis for decision-making based on science and agricultural experimentation in Africa

Sustainability assessment methodology for CA: The INSPIA model (alphanumeric data and graphical representations)

The Initiative for Sustainable Productive Agriculture (INSPIA) project endorses best management practices (BMPs), mainly based on Conservation Agriculture (CA), to enhance the provision of ecosystem services through better stewardship of soil and water resources while ensuring high levels of productivity. This research presents the INSPIA methodology for the assessment of sustainability and for guiding farmers on strategic decision-making at the farm level, applicable to any kind of cropland (annual and permanent crops). The methodology is based on the application of 15 best management practices, which are evaluated through a set of 31 basic sustainability indicators that cover the economic, social and environmental sustainability dimensions. This set of sustainability indicators and BMPs were agreed by a panel of experts consisting of members of European universities and public research stations, representatives of non-profit making associations, members of public sector, technicians and farmers. The selection of sustainability indicators fulfils the three types of validation: design validation, output validation and end-use validation. Basic indicators are then grouped into 12 aggregated indicators, to build the final INSPIA composite index of sustainability. The INSPIA methodology provides farmers and advisers with a helpful tool to understand sustainability and which, to a certain extent, serves to improve performance toward sustainability. Results are presented through this methodology in three different graphical ways: a bar diagram with the whole set of basic indicator-values from 0 to 100; a pie chart representing the sustainability split in the aggregated indicators from 0 to 100; and a final sustainability index ranging from 0 to 100. In the medium and long term, the INSPIA methodology can help to monitor and assess agricultural and environmental policy implementation, as well as help improve its decision-making processes in the future

Green Carbon Conference

The concept of sustainable development has evolved from a mere movement for the protection of the environment, to other multidimensional approaches. Indeed, today it calls for a holistic approach, seeking to preserve and improve not only the environment, but also to achieve social equity and economic sustainability. In Europe, society demands quality and safe products, not only in the industrial sector but also in agriculture. According to FAO, sustainable agriculture development is a key element of the new global challenges to meet human food security needs at 2050. Unsustainable practices based on intensive soil tillage and agro-chemical applications have increased agri-environmental risks. Whereas world’s food needs are expected to increase by 70% by 2050, agricultural land in Europe will also have to face environmental, economic and social challenges related to sustainable agriculture. As a result, in the EU 2020 Strategy, it is expressed that the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is required to contribute to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, enhancing social well-being, providing ecosystem services, managing resources sustainably while avoiding environmental degradation. There is broad consensus within the scientific sector that human actions generate a large portion of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, causing global warming. Certainly, Kyoto Protocol states it. According to the European Environmental Agency (EEA), there has been a decrease of 17% in GHG emissions between 1990 and 2009. However, EEA also stressed the importance of the agricultural contribution to total emissions (10.3%). The fossil fuel used in agricultural field operations, along with increasing CO2 emissions from soil through tillage, are considered to be one of the main direct sources of GHG emissions from agriculture sector. Increased inputs required to sustain conventional agriculture also adds significantly to total GHG emissions. Therefore, intensification of production through tillage, agro-chemicals and heavy machinery, which characterizes conventional agriculture in Europe, strongly contributes to increased net GHG emissions instead of mitigating global warming. Sustainable agricultural soil management is crucial for mitigating climate change, especially for the restoration of lost soil organic carbon. In fact, "Agricultural soils management" is recognized as one of the 15 most promising technology options for reducing GHG emissions in the COM (2005) 35 final "Winning the battle against global climate change." The Green Carbon Conference aims to show sustainable management of agricultural soils can help to agriculture mitigate and adapt to climate change, being compatible with the objectives of environmental protection, enhancing biodiversity and supporting farmers’ welfare along with many other environmental, economic and social benefits. Over the last decade, Conservation Agriculture has become known as a set of interlinked agricultural practices, of no or minimum mechanical soil disturbance, maintenance of soil mulch cover, and diversified cropping system, capable of: (a) overcoming several of the severe sustainability limitations of conventional agriculture; and (b) raising productivity, enhancing resilience, reducing degradation and increasing the flow of ecosystem services. The discussion around both the Soil Thematic Strategy initiated in 2002, and the JRC SoCo (Soil Conservation) project clearly recognized the potential of Conservation Agriculture in mitigating and even reversing the problems of soil erosion, soil organic matter decline, soil compaction, loss of biodiversity, climate change vulnerability, among others. Whereas Conservation Agriculture is now practiced successfully on more than 125 million hectares worldwide, Europe has shown to be reluctant with regard to its adoption, despite many promising results confirming its suitability in Europe. Therefore, this European Conference on Green Carbon provides an opportunity to take a leap forward in terms of sharing farmers experiences on Conservation Agriculture across Europe, reviewing the recent progress made in knowledge generation regarding Conservation Agriculture, and to disseminate the outcomes of the currently running LIFE+ Agricarbon (LIFE08 ENV/E/000129). The slogan of ‘Green Carbon’ chosen for this Conference attempts to clarify and highlight the indivisible yet vital link between soil organic carbon and the role that soil health plays in the sustainability of agricultural production and in the flow of ecosystem services. Nevertheless, the topics addressed by the Green Carbon Conference are not only related to the importance of soil organic carbon for the overall soil quality and health, but also include other sustainability issues intimately related to the role of soil carbon such as landscape scale ecosystem functions and services, climate change mitigation and carbon offset, and economic aspects. This Conference also seeks to alert and inform EU policy stakeholders and technical officers of the urgent need to adopt sustainable soil and production practices of Conservation Agriculture to contribute to the objectives of Europe 2020, the EU's growth strategy for the coming decades

European Index for sustainable and productive agriculture: The INSPIA Project. International Scientific Conference: The Role of Agriculture in Providing Ecosystem and Social Services

Agriculture faces many challenges. Most importantly, it must produce more food, feed and other raw materials to satisfy the increasing and multiple demands of a growing population, which according to FAO and EU documents means an additional 70% more food globally for the projected 2.3 billion more people by 2050 (FAO, 2011; European Union, 2012). Thus, and not least, agriculture also has to contribute to sustainable economic prosperity and social well-being in rural areas, while protecting and enhancing natural resource capital such as soil, terrain, water and biodiversity, and the flow of ecosystem services, particularly the provision, regulatory and supporting service. The INSPIA approach tries to contribute to a more productive, resilient and resource efficient agriculture that delivers ecosystem services at the same time. Only the concomitant achievement of natural resource protection and the sustainable provision of more food, feed, non-food crops and more biodiversity and natural habitats – while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- can be considered as part of a holistically approach towards sustainable agricultural production intensification (Basch et al., 2011; Kassam et al., 2013). INSPIA will demonstrate sustainable agriculture through the implementation of a system of Best Management Practices (BMPs) and the measurement and monitoring of a set of defined indicators. INSPIA promotes sustainable practices that can sustainably protect and improve biodiversity, soils, terrain and water and contribute to ecosystems services required by society. When based on an integrated foundation of: (i) no or minimum soil disturbance; (ii) permanent soil mulch cover; and (iii) diversified cropping system, BMPs are capable of significantly ecologically enhancing and sustaining soil health, soil biodiversity and soil functions in agriculture production systems (www.inspia-europe.eu). The project covers over 50 farms in Belgium, Denmark, France and Spain and its main objectives are to: • Demonstrate that ecologically resilient BMPs can contribute to achieving sustainability in European agriculture. • Provide an index of farm sustainability based on a set of verifiable indicators. • Create a farm network that validates, demonstrates and communicates the BMPs. • Promote sustainable agricultural practices in different production systems. • Raise awareness among EU stakeholders

LIFE+ AGRICARBON: Sustainable agriculture in carbon arithmetics

This project is an EU funded project in partnership with AEAC.SV, ECAF, UCO and IFAPA (www.agricarbon.eu). The objective of this project is to promote sustainable agriculture (conservation agriculture, CA; precision agriculture, PA), to mitigate climate change due to reducing GHG emissions, increase resilience and adapt to the new climate conditions foreseen within the global warming. The study is implemented in 3 farms of 30 hectares each, distributed along Andalusia, in South Spain. Not only field work performed has been useful to obtain supportive data for publications, but also technology transfer activities, such as field days, courses, or even the final Green Carbon Conference, have been a relevant strand within the project. The joint use of CA&PA, captured up to 35% more CO2 compared to tillage. Moreover, the absence of tillage made CA and PA reduce soil’s emissions between 56% -218%. Regarding energy use, the implementation of CA&PA in the testing farms, where the current crop rotation is wheat-sunflower-legume, resulted in cuts by 13.8% in wheat, 21.6% in sunflower and 24.4% in the legume when compared to tillage. These savings caused lower CO2 emissions, corresponding to 199.1 kgha-1 for wheat, 63.6 kgha-1 for sunflower and 107.1 kgha-1 for legume. In the mentioned rotation, yields show no major differences between sustainable agriculture and tillage. Dissemination has been successful as well: over 1,100 farmers trained in 10 field days and over 40 publications released