Conservation agriculture in the Brazilian tropics; Background; The Cerrado biome; The Amazon biome; History of zero tillage in the tropical zones of Brazil; Conservation agriculture; How does conservation agriculture work?; Integrated crop-livestock systems with zero tillage; Dissemination of ICLZT technology; Livestock and annual crop production in wet-dry and humid-tropical Brazil; Livestock type; Herd size and performance; Background for ICLZT; The process of pasture degradation; Principal integrated zero tillage crop-livestock systems; General considerations; Systems typology; Common rotations; Crop successions used as building blocks for rotations; Summaries of the ten main ICLZT technologies; Crop establishment in degraded pastures; Establishing pasture in annual crops; Sowing pasture after early harvest; Grass oversown in soybeans or maize; Grass regenerating during the first crop after ZT planting of a crop in old pasture; Planting forages on crop land for silage, green chop, dry season grazing or as a cover crop; Pasture renovation with forages sown jointly with grasses, for early grazing;Pigeon pea sown into existing pasture to improve winter grazing quality; Sowing perenniallegumes into maize; Sowing soybeans in a permanent grass sward; Opportunistic grazing of stubble in the dry season; Pigeon pea undersown in maize for stubble grazing; Grazing stubble in the dry season; Pasture grasses; Cover crops for grazing; Cut forage and silage CTOpS; Pasture and grazing management; Legumes in pastures; Mechanized operations in zero tillage and soil fertility management 49 Residue management; Spraying desiccants and other chemicals; Planting and drilling; Soil fertility considerations; Technical and financial analysis of integrated crop-livestock zero tillage rotations; Case Study 1 - A farm history of the adoption of CA with Z; Wihout project;With ICLZT; lrrigated crop management - with and without project; Analysis of the Model Results; Case studies of other ICLZT technologies; Sustainable agriculture and policy considerations; Farm-based economic benefits of CA, ZT and ICLZT; Farm-based environmental benefits of CA, ZT and ICLZT; Social benefits of ICLZT and increased land use intensity; Social support for conversion investments in ICLZT; Addressing the conversion needs of small farmers.

The purpose of this publication is to show how conservation agriculture can increase crop production while reducing erosion and reversing soil fertility decline, improving rural livelihoods and restoring the environment in developing countries. Soil organic matter and biological activity in the rooting zone, stimulated by continual additions of fresh organic material (crop residues and cover crops) are the basis of conservation agriculture, as described in the first chapter.

The book covers the spread of conservation agriculture (CA) to regions including Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Europe and emerging CA destinations in Asia and Africa. ÿTopics covered include the various components of CA, and how their individual and combined implementation influence productivity, soil health and environmental quality under diverse edaphic and climatic conditions. The book will be useful to teachers, researchers, extensionists, farmers, and students interested in environmental quality.

Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.

Tropical areas present ecological, cultural and political problems that demand analysis that is distinct from general ecological analysis. The tropical environment is special in many ways, from the lack of a biological down season (winter), to generally poor soil conditions, to a reliance on traditional methods of agriculture in an undeveloped soci