DIVERSITY OF CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE PRACTICES AMONG EUROPEAN ORGANIC FARMERS “TILMAN-ORG SESSION”

Summary

The interest of organic farmers for adopting conservation agriculture practices is currently growing. But, there are few technical and scientific references available for organic farmers when they start applying conservation agriculture practices. The main objectives of this study are (1) to explore the diversity of crop management practices using conservation agriculture methods among European farmers, and (2) to identify main farmers’ strategies. We carried out a survey of 159 farmers located in 10 European countries with a questionnaire with closed-ended questions. Data were analysis with a multi factor analysis followed by clustering to identify groups of farmers that share the same type of spring and winter crop managements. Organic farmers in Europe, applying conservation agriculture practices, show very diverse crop management. The high diversity of crop management can be described by two main strategies: ‘low soil cover’ strategy and ‘soil conservation’ strategy. Distinct geographical distribution of both strategies suggests that applicability of conservation agriculture practices is strongly context oriented and thus related to environmental conditions.