Reduced tillage and green manures for sustainable cropping systems - Overview of the TILMAN-ORG project

Summary

Reduced tillage and green manures are environmentally friendly practices that increase levels of soil organic matter and biological activity, improve soil stability, and reduce fuel consumption and may mitigate the climate impact of crop production. The avoidance of deep ploughing is successfully practiced as no-tillage agriculture in conventional farming systems. However, these no-tillage systems rely on herbicides for weed control and mineral fertilisers for plant nutrients. As these inputs are banned in organic farming the TILMAN-ORG project focuses on efficient weed management strategies and improvement of nutrient management. Because there is little information on greenhouse gas emissions under reduced tillage in organic farming, greenhouse gas flux studies will shed more light on this challenging issue.