About 1/3 of the earth's soils are degraded. In many countries, intensification of crop production has depleted soils to the point where future production in these areas is at risk. Healthy soils are key to building sustainable crop production systems that are resilient to the effects of climate change. They contain a diverse community of organisms that help control plant diseases, insect and weed populations; recycle nutrients and improve soil structure with a positive effect on water holding capacity, nutrient retention and organic carbon storage.
Conservation and conservation agriculture is 20 to 50 percent less labour-intensive and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions by reducing energy costs and increasing nutrient efficiency. At the same time, it stabilizes and protects the soil from destruction and release of carbon into the atmosphere.
Conservation and conservation agriculture provides a number of benefits at the global, regional, local and economic levels:
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- Sustainability . The CA provides a truly sustainable production system by not only conserving but also enhancing natural resources and increasing the diversity of soil biota, fauna and flora (including wild ones) in agricultural production systems without compromising or compromising high yields.
- Expansion of biodiversity. CA depends on the biological processes that take place, it increases the biodiversity in the agricultural production system at both the micro and macro levels.
- Carbon binding. Untilled fields serve as a CO 2 sink , and conservation agriculture applied on a global scale can make a significant contribution to combating air pollution in general and global warming in particular. Farmers who adopt this practice may eventually be rewarded with carbon credits.
- Labor saving. Tillage is among all agricultural operations the most energy-intensive and therefore the most polluting operation in mechanized agriculture. By not tilling the soil, farmers can save 30 to 40 percent of time, labor and, in mechanized agriculture, fossil fuels compared to conventional farming.
- Healthier soils. Soils under the CA have a very high capacity for infiltration (water penetration), which significantly reduces surface runoff and hence soil erosion. This improves surface water quality by reducing pollution from soil erosion and increases groundwater resources. In many areas, after several years of the Conservation Plant, it has been observed that natural springs that dried up many years ago have begun to flow again. The potential impact of the massive implementation of RPPs on global water balances has not yet been fully recognized.
- Increased yield. Conservation agriculture is by no means low productivity agriculture and produces yields comparable to today's intensive agriculture, but in a sustainable manner. Yields tend to increase over the years and yield fluctuations decrease.
- Cost reduction. For the farmer, CPP is mainly attractive because it reduces production costs, reduces time and labor, especially during periods of peak demand such as soil preparation and seeding, and in mechanized systems, it reduces investment and maintenance costs of equipment in the long term.