Non-inversion tillage and crop residues. (https://qcat.wocat.net/upload/6d/7/6d7c4c88-58d1-45a5-b476-5173b444798a.jpg)

Non-inversion shallow cultivation (Belgium)

Oppervlakkige niet-kerende bodembewerking

Description

The technology consists of the use of cover crops and of a non-inversion seedbed preparation

The technology consists of agronomic measures. The most important thing is that the farmers are not allowed to invert the soil by ploughing. Farmers may only cultivate their fields as minimum and as shallow as possible. Farmers also have to use a cover crop, if possible. In this way the soil is always covered with residues of a previous crop or with residues of the cover crop. The improvement of the ground cover protects the soil against different kinds of water erosion. In the long term period, the soil structure will improve (more organic matter in top soil) and more earthworm activity will be determined. The infiltration of water will increase.

Purpose of the Technology: Protecting the soil against erosion and increasing infiltration.

Establishment / maintenance activities and inputs: The farmer may never plough.

Natural / human environment: The technology is applied on cropland with annual crops.

Location

Location: Vlaams-Brabant, Flanders, Belgium

No. of Technology sites analysed:

Geo-reference of selected sites
  • 4.6132, 50.7778

Spread of the Technology: evenly spread over an area (0.0046 km²)

In a permanently protected area?:

Date of implementation: less than 10 years ago (recently)

Type of introduction
Direct drilling machine

Classification of the Technology

Main purpose
  • improve production
  • reduce, prevent, restore land degradation
  • conserve ecosystem
  • protect a watershed/ downstream areas – in combination with other Technologies
  • preserve/ improve biodiversity
  • reduce risk of disasters
  • adapt to climate change/ extremes and its impacts
  • mitigate climate change and its impacts
  • create beneficial economic impact
  • create beneficial social impact
Land use

  • Cropland
    • Annual cropping: cereals - maize, root/tuber crops - potatoes, root/tuber crops - sugar beet, wheat
    Number of growing seasons per year: 1
    Is crop rotation practiced? Yes

Water supply
  • rainfed
  • mixed rainfed-irrigated
  • full irrigation
Purpose related to land degradation
  • prevent land degradation
  • reduce land degradation
  • restore/ rehabilitate severely degraded land
  • adapt to land degradation
  • not applicable
Degradation addressed
  • soil erosion by water - Wt: loss of topsoil/ surface erosion, Wg: gully erosion/ gullying, Wo: offsite degradation effects
  • physical soil deterioration - Pk: slaking and crusting
SLM group
  • improved ground/ vegetation cover
  • minimal soil disturbance
SLM measures
  • agronomic measures - A2: Organic matter/ soil fertility, A3: Soil surface treatment, A4: Subsurface treatment

Technical drawing

Technical specifications

Establishment and maintenance: activities, inputs and costs

Calculation of inputs and costs
  • Costs are calculated:
  • Currency used for cost calculation: n.a.
  • Exchange rate (to USD): 1 USD = n.a
  • Average wage cost of hired labour per day: n.a
Most important factors affecting the costs
n.a.
Establishment activities
n.a.
Maintenance activities
  1. sowing maize, inorganic nitrogen (Timing/ frequency: apr 2004 /)
  2. sowing winter barley (Timing/ frequency: oct 2003 /)
  3. injection of slurry, herbicide paraquat (Timing/ frequency: mar 2004 /)
  4. spraying herbicides (Timing/ frequency: may 2004 /)
  5. harvesting, sowing winter wheat (Timing/ frequency: nov 2004 /)

Natural environment

Average annual rainfall
  • < 250 mm
  • 251-500 mm
  • 501-750 mm
  • 751-1,000 mm
  • 1,001-1,500 mm
  • 1,501-2,000 mm
  • 2,001-3,000 mm
  • 3,001-4,000 mm
  • > 4,000 mm
Agro-climatic zone
  • humid
  • sub-humid
  • semi-arid
  • arid
Specifications on climate
Average annual rainfall in mm: 780.1
Slope
  • flat (0-2%)
  • gentle (3-5%)
  • moderate (6-10%)
  • rolling (11-15%)
  • hilly (16-30%)
  • steep (31-60%)
  • very steep (>60%)
Landforms
  • plateau/plains
  • ridges
  • mountain slopes
  • hill slopes
  • footslopes
  • valley floors
Altitude
  • 0-100 m a.s.l.
  • 101-500 m a.s.l.
  • 501-1,000 m a.s.l.
  • 1,001-1,500 m a.s.l.
  • 1,501-2,000 m a.s.l.
  • 2,001-2,500 m a.s.l.
  • 2,501-3,000 m a.s.l.
  • 3,001-4,000 m a.s.l.
  • > 4,000 m a.s.l.
Technology is applied in
  • convex situations
  • concave situations
  • not relevant
Soil depth
  • very shallow (0-20 cm)
  • shallow (21-50 cm)
  • moderately deep (51-80 cm)
  • deep (81-120 cm)
  • very deep (> 120 cm)
Soil texture (topsoil)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Soil texture (> 20 cm below surface)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Topsoil organic matter content
  • high (>3%)
  • medium (1-3%)
  • low (<1%)
Groundwater table
  • on surface
  • < 5 m
  • 5-50 m
  • > 50 m
Availability of surface water
  • excess
  • good
  • medium
  • poor/ none
Water quality (untreated)
  • good drinking water
  • poor drinking water (treatment required)
  • for agricultural use only (irrigation)
  • unusable
Is salinity a problem?
  • Yes
  • No

Occurrence of flooding
  • Yes
  • No
Species diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low
Habitat diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low

Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

Market orientation
  • subsistence (self-supply)
  • mixed (subsistence/ commercial)
  • commercial/ market
Off-farm income
  • less than 10% of all income
  • 10-50% of all income
  • > 50% of all income
Relative level of wealth
  • very poor
  • poor
  • average
  • rich
  • very rich
Level of mechanization
  • manual work
  • animal traction
  • mechanized/ motorized
Sedentary or nomadic
  • Sedentary
  • Semi-nomadic
  • Nomadic
Individuals or groups
  • individual/ household
  • groups/ community
  • cooperative
  • employee (company, government)
Gender
  • women
  • men
Age
  • children
  • youth
  • middle-aged
  • elderly
Area used per household
  • < 0.5 ha
  • 0.5-1 ha
  • 1-2 ha
  • 2-5 ha
  • 5-15 ha
  • 15-50 ha
  • 50-100 ha
  • 100-500 ha
  • 500-1,000 ha
  • 1,000-10,000 ha
  • > 10,000 ha
Scale
  • small-scale
  • medium-scale
  • large-scale
Land ownership
  • state
  • company
  • communal/ village
  • group
  • individual, not titled
  • individual, titled
Land use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Water use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Access to services and infrastructure

Impacts

Socio-economic impacts
farm income
decreased
increased


Because of reduced working time and lower fuel consumption.

special equipement
necessary
unnecessary

Socio-cultural impacts
conflict mitigation
worsened
improved

farmers opinion of a non-ploughed field
dislike
like

Ecological impacts
surface runoff
increased
decreased

Quantity before SLM: 34
Quantity after SLM: 16
Also 21 before and 16 after

soil cover
reduced
improved


More residues

soil loss
increased
decreased

Quantity before SLM: 4.47
Quantity after SLM: 1
Significant reduction in soil loss

biodiversity
diminished
enhanced


more earthworms

use of herbicides
increased
decreased

Off-site impacts
downstream flooding (undesired)
increased
reduced


Because of less runoff

groundwater/ river pollution
increased
reduced

Cost-benefit analysis

Benefits compared with establishment costs
Short-term returns
very negative
very positive

Long-term returns
very negative
very positive

Benefits compared with maintenance costs
Short-term returns
very negative
very positive

Long-term returns
very negative
very positive

Climate change

-

Adoption and adaptation

Percentage of land users in the area who have adopted the Technology
  • single cases/ experimental
  • 1-10%
  • 11-50%
  • > 50%
Of all those who have adopted the Technology, how many have done so without receiving material incentives?
  • 0-10%
  • 11-50%
  • 51-90%
  • 91-100%
Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?
  • Yes
  • No
To which changing conditions?
  • climatic change/ extremes
  • changing markets
  • labour availability (e.g. due to migration)

Conclusions and lessons learnt

Strengths: land user's view
  • less soil erosion
Strengths: compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
  • The technology clearly reduces the erosion risk while maintaining profitability.
  • The new technology also has other benefits on soil structure and biodiversity.
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: land user's viewhow to overcome
  • high investment costs for buying new agricultural machinery
  • more attention to crop damages caused by slugs and mice should be given
  • Practicing the new technology requires a relative dry soil
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: compiler’s or other key resource person’s viewhow to overcome
  • Practicing the new technology requires a greater skill of the farmers. education, training

References

Compiler
  • Unknown User
Editors
Reviewer
  • David Streiff
  • Alexandra Gavilano
Date of documentation: Nov. 8, 2010
Last update: March 7, 2019
Resource persons
Full description in the WOCAT database
Linked SLM data
Documentation was faciliated by
Institution Project
Key references
  • SOWAP - Project. 2003-2006.: www. Sowap.org
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareaAlike 4.0 International