Reduced TILlage and Green MANures for sustainable ORGanic Cropping Systems

Summary

No-Till (NT) and Reduced Tillage (RT) are conservation tillage practices with a high potential to restore or improve essential soil functions and mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration and reduced fuel use. While NT systems are widely used in conventional farming, these techniques are challenging to adapt to organic farming due to weed pressure and frequent nitrogen deficiency in early spring. A potential answer may be RT, such as shallow inversion ploughing, or non-inversion tillage. In TILMAN-ORG, the implementation of these practices in European organic farming systems was addressed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from 11 European countries.