The Effect of Conservation Agriculture and Environmental Factors on CO2 Emissions in a Rainfed Crop Rotation

There are many factors involved in the release of CO2 emissions from the soil, such as the type of soil management, the soil organic matter, the soil temperature and moisture conditions, crop phenological stage, weather conditions, residue management, among others. This study aimed to analyse the influence of these factors and their interactions to determine the emissions by evaluating the environmental cost expressed as the kg of CO2 emitted per kg of production in each of the crops and seasons studied. For this purpose, a field trial was conducted on a farm in Seville (Spain). The study compared Conservation Agriculture, including its three principles (no-tillage, permanent soil cover, and crop rotations), with conventional tillage. Carbon dioxide emissions measured across the four seasons of the experiment showed an increase strongly influenced by rainfall during the vegetative period, in both soil management systems. The results of this study confirm that extreme events of precipitation away from the normal means, result in episodes of high CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. This is very important because one of the consequences for future scenarios of climate change is precisely the increase of extreme episodes of precipitation and periods extremely dry, depending on the area considered. The total of emission values of the different plots of the study show how the soils under the conventional system (tillage) have been emitting 67% more than soils under the conventional agriculture system during the 2010/11 campaign and 25% for the last campaign where the most appreciable differences are observed

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

Long-term follow-up of certolizumab pegol in uveitis due to immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: multicentre study of 80 patients

ObjectivesTo evaluate effectiveness and safety of certolizumab pegol (CZP) in uveitis due to immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID).MethodsMulticentre study of CZP-treated patients with IMID uveitis refractory to conventional immunosuppressant. Effectiveness was assessed through the following ocular parameters: best-corrected visual acuity, anterior chamber cells, vitritis, macular thickness and retinal vasculitis. These variables were compared between the baseline, and first week, first, third, sixth months, first and second year.ResultsWe studied 80 (33 men/47 women) patients (111 affected eyes) with a mean age of 41.6 +/- 11.7 years. The IMID included were: spondyloarthritis (n=43), Behcet's disease (n=10), psoriatic arthritis (n=8), Crohn's disease (n=4), sarcoidosis (n=2), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (n=1), reactive arthritis (n=1), rheumatoid arthritis (n=1), relapsing polychondritis (n=1),ConclusionsCZP seems to be effective and safe in uveitis related to different IMID, even in patients refractory to previous biological drugs

. Climate change adaptability and mitigation with Conservation Agriculture

The status quo of agriculture based on soil tillage is unacceptable from a climate point of view. To reverse agriculture’s field performance from that of a net GHG emitter to a GHG mitigator requires a new paradigm. CA is a holistic agricultural system that is able to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The three interlinked principles of CA enable the system to deliver many benefits in terms of carbon sequestration and climate adaptation, especially with regards to soil, water, nutrient, and energy management

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