Sustainable Soil Management Is More than What and How Crops Are Grown - Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems - page 376

energy efficiency in crop production, leading to better sustainability, higher produc-
tive capacity, and lower environmental damage (Baig and Gamache 2009; Lindwall
and Sonntag 2010).
Suitable CA mechanical technologies are commercially available for all technol-
ogy levels, from the small farmer using exclusively manual power to the large-scale
mechanized farmer applying precision farming with satellite guidance. However,
small-scale hand and animal traction tools and equipment for CA so far are easily
accessible only to farmers in Southern Brazil and Paraguay, while single-axle trac-
tors with CA attachments can be found on the market only in Bangladesh and Brazil.
The actual challenge is to improve the accessibility and commercial availability of
such tools and equipment for the smallholder farmer in Africa and Asia, as well as
in parts of Latin America. In several developing and middle-income countries in
Africa and Asia, small workshops and manufacturers are now starting to produce
manual and animal traction no-till planters as well as tractor-drawn direct seeding
equipment (Friedrich and Kassam 2011; Sims et al. 2011).
Modern technologies do allow a much more efficient use of energy and other
production inputs, and they have also been instrumental for allowing ecologi-
cally oriented crop production concepts, such as CA, to develop. A crucial input
into the development and increased adoption of CA is direct seeding technol-
ogy, which enables the establishment of crops in undisturbed soils. These modern
mechanized technologies have contributed to the success and area spread of CA,
which also facilitates the improved delivery of ecosystem services and allows the
development toward sustainable agriculture through the reduction of waste and
an increased input efficiency (Baker et al. 2007). Yet, in addition, agricultural
mechanization can also directly—with more precise application equipment for
agricultural inputs and the additional use of precision farming tools—contribute
to a reduction in input use. GIS technologies further allow control of traffic of
agricultural machinery, so as to minimize areas of soil compaction and, with this,
facilitate the development of a functioning soil ecosystem, increasing at the same
time the energy efficiency of crop production systems (Tullberg 2007; Wang et al.
2009).
14.7 LARGE-SCALE LANDSCAPE-LEVEL BENEFITS
FROM SUSTAINABLE SOIL MANAGEMENT
Benefits from sustainable production systems are scale independent. They do occur
at the field-point scale, but benefits accrue to landscapes, farms, communities, and
regions. The four major sets of benefits from sustainable soil management and pro-
duction systems are as follows:
1. Higher stable production output, productivity, and profitability
2. Adaptation to climate change and reduced vulnerability
3. Enhanced ecosystem functioning and services
4. Reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and “carbon footprint” of
agriculture