title: Beyond conservation agriculture.
abstract: Global support for Conservation Agriculture (CA) as a pathway to Sustainable Intensification is strong. CA revolves around three principles: no-till (or minimal soil disturbance), soil cover, and crop rotation. The benefits arising from the ease of crop management, energy/cost/time savings, and soil and water conservation led to widespread adoption of CA, particularly on large farms in the Americas and Australia, where farmers harness the tools of modern science: highly-sophisticated machines, potent agrochemicals, and biotechnology. Over the past 10 years CA has been promoted among smallholder farmers in the (sub-) tropics, often with disappointing results. Growing evidence challenges the claims that CA increases crop yields and builds-up soil carbon although increased stability of crop yields in dry climates is evident. Our analyses suggest pragmatic adoption on larger mechanized farms, and limited uptake of CA by smallholder farmers in developing countries. We propose a rigorous, context-sensitive approach based on Systems Agronomy to analyze and explore sustainable intensification options, including the potential of CA. There is an urgent need to move beyond dogma and prescriptive approaches to provide soil and crop management options for farmers to enable the Sustainable Intensification of agriculture.
authors.affiliation: Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University Wageningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ken E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Giller
authors.affiliation: Sustainable Intensification Program, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) Texcoco, Mexico.
authors.forename: Jens A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.affiliation: Agro-ecology and Sustainable Intensification of Annual Crops, French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), c/o Embrapa-Cerrados Planaltina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corbeels
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Agriculture, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Agriculture Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kirkegaard
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Science, The Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.affiliation: Socio-economics Program, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) Texcoco, Mexico.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Erenstein
authors.affiliation: Natural Resource Management Research Area, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vanlauwe
keywords: climate smart agriculture; legumes; mulch; soil erosion; sustainable intensification; systems agronomy