About the Book
"What Dr Samuel Johnson did for English, Professor Amir Kassam has done for Conservation Agriculture (CA). He is eminently well qualified and has enlisted more than a hundred battle-hardened champions to contribute 26 chapters amounting to over a thousand scholarly pages. The content is formidable. Volume one, Systems and Science, embraces: the need for CA; global developments; soil health and landscape management; the roles of minimum soil disturbance, mulch and cover crops; crops and cropping systems, vegetable systems, perennial systems; integration of cropping and livestock; mechanization; certification; institutional and policy support. Volume two, Practice and Benefits, includes management of crops and cropping systems, soil, weeds, insect pests and disease, nutrients, carbon, and biodiversity; climate change mitigation and adaptation; benefits to farmers and society; ecosystem services; and rehabilitation of degraded farmland…This book can change the future."review by David Dent in International Journal of Environmental Studies
This collection reviews ways of optimising Conservation Agricultural (CA) practices and their benefits.
Chapters summarise research on optimising soil management, crop nutrition and irrigation, as well as weed, insect pest and disease management. The book also reviews ways of optimising the environmental and social benefits of adopting CA practices.
Chapters discuss carbon and biodiversity management, the ways CA can promote ecosystem services as well as the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques to monitor and improve CA. There are also chapters on improving the economic and broader social benefits of CA for farming communities.
Table of Contents:
1.Practice and benefits of Conservation Agriculture systems: Amir Kassam, University of Reading, UK; and Laila Kassam, Animal Think Tank, UK;
2.Crop and cropping systems management practices and benefits in Conservation Agriculture systems: Muhammad Farooq, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, University of Agriculture, Pakistan, and The University of Western Australia, Australia; Ahmad Nawaz, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Pakistan; Yashpal Singh Saharawat, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Lebanon; Timothy Reeves, The University of Melbourne, Australia; and Kadambot Siddique, The University of Western Australia, Australia;
3.Soil management practices and benefits in Conservation Agriculture systems: Michele Pisante, University of Teramo, Italy; Angelica Galieni, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics and Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops, Italy; Gottlieb Basch, University of Évora, Portugal; Theodor Friedrich, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy; and Fabio Stagnari, University of Teramo, Italy;
4.Weed management practices and benefits in Conservation Agriculture systems: Gottlieb Basch and Fernando Teixeira, University of Évora, Portugal; and Sjoerd W. Duiker, Penn State University, USA;
5.Insect pest and disease management practices and benefits in Conservation Agriculture systems: a case of push–pull practice: Z. R. Khan, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Kenya; A. W. Murage, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Kenya; and J. O. Pittchar and C. A. O. Midega, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Kenya;
6.Nutrient management practices and benefits in Conservation Agriculture systems: Stephane Boulakia, Florent Tivet and Olivier Husson, Centre de coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), France; and Lucien Séguy, AgroécoRiz, France;
7.Carbon management practices and benefits in Conservation Agriculture systems: Carbon sequestration rates: João Carlos de Moraes Sá, State University of Ponta Grossa, Brazil; Florent Tivet, Centre de coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), France; Rattan Lal, The Ohio State University, USA; Ademir de Oliveira Ferreira, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Brazil; Clever Briedis, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Agricultural Instrumentation Center, Brazil; Thiago Massao Inagaki, Technical University of Munich, Germany; and Daniel Potma Gonçalves and Jucimare Romaniw, State University of Ponta Grossa, Brazil;
8.Carbon management practices and benefits in Conservation Agriculture systems: soil organic carbon fraction losses and restoration: João Carlos de Moraes Sá, State University of Ponta Grossa, Brazil; Florent Tivet, CIRAD, France; Rattan Lal, The Ohio State University, USA; Ademir de Oliveira Ferreira, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Brazil; Clever Briedis, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Agricultural Instrumentation Center, Brazil; Thiago Massao Inagaki, Technical University of Munich, Germany; and Daniel Potma Gonçalves and Jucimare Romaniw, State University of Ponta Grossa, Brazil;
9.Biodiversity management practices and benefits in Conservation Agriculture systems: Scott Day, Treelane Farms Ltd, Canada; Ademir Calegari, Agricultural Research Institute of Paraná State (IAPAR), Brazil; Alessandra Santos, Marcus Cremonesi, Lilianne Maia and Wilian Demetrio, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil; and Marie L. C. Bartz, Coimbra University, Portugal;
10.Conservation Agriculture: climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits: Emilio J. Gonzalez Sanchez, Universidad de Córdoba, Spain, European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF), Belgium and Asociación Española Agricultura de Conservación. Suelos Vivos (AEAC.SV), Spain; Oscar Veroz-Gonzalez, Asociación Española Agricultura de Conservación. Suelos Vivos (AEAC.SV), Spain; Manuel Morena-Garcia and Rafaela Ordoñez-Fernandez, IFAPA Centro Alameda del Obispo, Spain; Jesus A. Gil-Ribes and Julio Roman-Vazquez, Universidad de Córdoba, Spain; Antonio Holgado-Cabrera, IFAPA Centro Alameda del Obispo, Spain; Amir Kassam, University of Reading, UK; Gordon Conway, Imperial College London, UK; Saidi Mkomwa, African Conservation Tillage Network, Kenya; Paula Triviño-Tarradas, Antonio Miranda-Fuentes and Francisco Marquez-Garcia, Universidad de Córdoba, Spain; and Rosa M. Carbonell-Bojollo, IFAPA Centro Alameda del Obispo, Spain;
11.Benefits of Conservation Agriculture to farmers and society: Patrick Wall, Independent Consultant – Sustainable Agricultural Systems, Mexico; Christian Thierfelder, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Zimbabwe; Peter Hobbs, Cornell University, USA; Jon Hellin, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), The Philippines; and Bram Govaerts, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico;
12.Social benefits of Conservation Agriculture systems: Rafael Fuentes Llanillo, Tiago Santos Telles and Dimas Soares Junior, Agricultural Research Institute of Paraná State (IAPAR), Brazil; Sara Kaweesa, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Austria; and Anne-Marie B. Mayer, Independent Nutrition and Agriculture Consultant, UK;
13.Harnessing ecosystem services with Conservation Agriculture: Amir Kassam, University of Reading, UK; Emilio J. Gonzalez Sanchez, Universidad de Córdoba, Spain,European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF), Belgium and Asociación Española Agricultura de Conservación. Suelos Vivos (AEAC.SV), Spain; Tom Goddard, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Canada; Li Hongwen, Conservation Tillage Research Centre, China Agriculture University, China; Ivo Mello, Instituto Rio Grandense do Arroz, Brazil; Saidi Mkomwa, African Conservation Tillage Network, Kenya; Francis Shaxson, Land Husbandry Group, Tropical Agricultural Association, UK; and Theodor Friedrich, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy;
14.Rehabilitating degraded and abandoned agricultural lands with Conservation Agriculture systems: Telmo Jorge Carneiro Amado, Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil; Carlos Alexandre Costa Crusciol, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil; Claudio Hideo Martins da Costa, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Brazil; Otávio dos Anjos Leal, Catarinense Federal Institute, Brazil; and Luan Pierre Pott, Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil;
About the Author :
Professor Amir Kassam is Visiting Professor at the University of Reading (UK) and Moderator of the FAO-hosted Global Platform for Conservation Agriculture Community of Practice (Global CA-CoP). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (UK) and has received an OBE from the British Government for services to tropical agriculture and to rural development. Prof. Kassam is Chair of the International Conservation Agriculture Advisory Panel for Africa (ICAAP-Africa), Member of the European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF) and Vice-Chair of the Conservation Agriculture Association for the UK (CA-UK). He is former Chair of the Aga Khan Foundation (UK), the FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance Europe Foundation and the Tropical Agriculture Association (TAA). He has held senior positions at international organisations such as the FAO and CGIAR and has worked with many national and international programmes on sustainable agricultural development. He has published widely on Conservation Agriculture.
Dr Gottlieb Basch is a Full Professor in the Department of Plant Science at the University of Évora, Portugal. He is President of the European Conservation Agriculture Federation and has contributed to a number of EIP AGRI Focus Groups, EU Horizon and other research projects on more sustainable methods of crop cultivation.
Dr Sjoerd W. Duiker is Professor of Soil Management and Applied Soil Physics at Penn State University, USA. He has made significant contributions to both research and extension in developing more sustainable soil management practices in such areas as no-till systems, the use of cover crops, mulches and more diverse crop rotations. He is a member of the Governing Board of the Northeast Cover Crops Council which brings together universities, farmers, government agencies and others to optimise cover crop use in the north-eastern states of the USA. Professor Duiker is also a co-editor of the forthcoming Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing collection Weed management in Conservation Agriculture systems.
Scott worked for Manitoba Agriculture as an agricultural extension specialist for over 23 years, before creating Fall-Line-Capital Inc - a company which invests in farmland and the latest agricultural technologies. Scott continues to enjoy international speaking opportunities, and contributing to Agronomy books and publications, most recently with the FAO/United Nations, the University of Adelaide, No-Till Farmer Magazine, and The Western Producer. Dr Marie Bartz is a Researcher in the Centre of Functional Ecology at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. She is also a Visiting Professor at the Federal Technological University of Paraná, Brazil. She has published widely on earthworms and other aspects of soil biodiversity.
Dr Saidi Mkomwa is Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the African Conservation Tillage Network with over 30 years‘ experience of developing and promoting Conservation Agriculture techniques in Africa. Amongst other responsibilities he is Chair of the Conservation Agriculture Regional Working Group for Southern Africa. He is based in Kenya.
Review :
"What Dr Samuel Johnson did for English, Professor Amir Kassam has done for Conservation Agriculture (CA). He is eminently well qualified and has enlisted more than a hundred battle-hardened champions to contribute 26 chapters amounting to over a thousand scholarly pages. The content is formidable. Volume one, Systems and Science, embraces: the need for CA; global developments; soil health and landscape management; the roles of minimum soil disturbance, mulch and cover crops; crops and cropping systems, vegetable systems, perennial systems; integration of cropping and livestock; mechanization; certification; institutional and policy support. Volume two, Practice and Benefits, includes management of crops and cropping systems, soil, weeds, insect pests and disease, nutrients, carbon, and biodiversity; climate change mitigation and adaptation; benefits to farmers and society; ecosystem services; and rehabilitation of degraded farmland…This book can change the future."review by David Dent in International Journal of Environmental Studies
"Overall, these two volumes provide an exciting collation of the science and practice of CA and its increase across the world. They are hugely valuable resources to stimulate further work for adoption of CA systems using emergent multivariate analysis - possible with digital technologies - of farming systems previously regarded as too complex to analyse. Complex mixed cropping and mixed farming systems, adopted because of their resilience by many farmers, can now be trialled. These books offer an inspiration for CA practitioners, for students of agricultural subjects, for entrepreneurs and all who are concerned for sustainable agricultural management towards ecosystem security."Prof. John Wibberley, University of Reading, UK; review in International Journal of Agricultural Management.
"Dr Kassam and more than 120 contributing authors from more than 30 countries have brought together authoritative, clearly structured and accessible information on all aspects of Conservation Agriculture (CA) for a large range of readers…Every now and again, there comes a book on sustainable agriculture offered by the real champions including farmers, and this book is one of those. Dr. Kassam and all the contributors to the book as well as the publisher Burleigh Dodds deserve to be congratulated for their timely and much needed effort in bringing together the best of scientific and empirical knowledge and experience of CA systems and their benefits from around the world for practical application to help make sustainable agriculture real". Robert Brinkman, former Director of Land and Water Division – FAO; review in International Journal of Environmental Studies
