Food for All - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 87

vital to the rapid spread of no-till farming. The system clearly works. In
Argentina, average cereal productivity was 2 tonnes per hectare in 1990;
since then, it has increased by about 10 per cent on conventional farms,
a rate far surpassed by those farms with zero-tillage, where yields have
doubled. On Roberto's farm, the 2001 harvest has been the best to date.
From his field, he says: 'I am busy but happy because we are again able to have higher
yields for our soybean, corn and sorghum. The oldest no-till paddocks are peaking at nearly
five tonnes per hectare for soybean, ten tonnes for corn, and eight tonnes for sorghum.' I
asked him what he was most proud of. He says: 'The land has become fertile.
We clearly see the wildlife has increased in our farms, there is water in the soil, and farmers
are better off. I feel that there is strong correlation between feeling well, and being conscious
of living within a framework of environmentally friendly attitudes.'
To the north in Brazil, the transformations in the landscape and in
farmers' attitudes are equally impressive. John Landers runs a network of
Clubes Amigos da Terra, friends of the land clubs, in the Cerrado, the vast
area of formerly unproductive lands colonized for farming during the past
two decades. These lands needed lime and phosphorus before they could
become productive. He believes that zero-tillage represents 'a total change
in the values of how to plant crops and manage soils. On adopting zero-tillage, farmers
adopt a higher level of management and become environmentally responsible.' There are
many fundamental changes, including 'the adoption of biological controls, awareness
that the new technology is eliminating erosion and building the soil so they have something
to leave for their children, and a willingness to participate in joint actions.'
Zero-tillage has had an effect on social systems, as well as on soils. In
the early days, there was a widespread belief that zero-tillage was only for
large farmers. This has now changed, and small farmers are benefiting from
technology breakthroughs developed for mechanical farming. A core
element of zero-tillage adoption in South America has been adaptive
research - working with farmers at microcatchment level to ensure
technologies are fitted well to local circumstances. According to Landers:
'Zero-tillage has been a major factor in changing the top-down nature of agricultural services
to farmers towards a participatory, on-farm approach.' There are many types of
farmers' groups: from local (farmer microcatchment and credit groups),
to municipal (soil commissions, Friends of Land clubs, commercial
farmers' and farm workers' unions), to multimunicipal (farmer found-
ations and cooperatives), to river basin (basin committees for all water
users), and to state and national level (state zero-tillage associations and
the national zero-tillage federation).
Farmers are now adapting technologies - organic matter levels have
improved so much that fertilizer use has been reduced and rainfall
infiltration improved. Farmers are now getting rid of contour terraces at
many locations, insisting that there are no erosion problems. As biological