In partnership with UC Food Observer: The UC Food Observer is your daily serving of must-read news from the world of food, curated by the University of California. Follow on Twitter.
Across dusty roads and the course of two decades, a University of California researcher named Jeff Mitchell has encouraged an increasing number of producers to develop farm systems that are closer to the kinds of systems found in nature. Conservation agriculture, also known as no-till/minimum-till farming, is his passion.
More From UC Food Observer
Dr. Pedro Sanchez and the Importance of Understanding the Cuban Food System
American Journalist Marc Frank Discusses the Food System in Cuba
UCRs Garden Coordinator Fortino Morales III Addresses the Importance of Food Access
1 of 5
next
Jeff works for UC ANR Cooperative Extension (UC ANR) as a Cropping Systems Specialist. He earned his PhD from UC Davis. When he's not on the road traveling around the state to work with farmers, he's based at UC ANR's Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, California.
In our conversation, Jeff repeatedly emphasizes that conservation agriculture is not a single practice, but rather, a combination of principles, practices and ideas for production agriculture that he and others promote. While adoption practices vary by crops and across regions, the practice is gaining in popularity in the U.S.; government data suggests that nearly 40 percent of combined acreage of corn, soybean, wheat, and cotton were in no-till/strip-till in 2010-11, with adoption rates higher for some crops (e.g., soybeans) and some regions. The same research report indicates that there is an opportunity to increase the use of cover crops, which were in use on less than 2 percent of total cropland (for all crops) during 2010-11 (6.8 million acres).
Editor's Note: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) advocates for conservation agriculture; learn more about global efforts here.
Conservation agriculture promotes leaving fields untilled, the use of cover crops and other soil-enhancing practices. The use of cover crops acts as a sink for nitrogen and other nutrients, increasing soil's organic matter, enabling it to more effectively absorb and retain water. This helps reduce erosion.
No till field in Southern Africa. | Photo: USAID: Southern Africa/Flickr/Creative Commons License
Some research indicates that these practices can reduce fertilizer use, lead to larger yields, and provide some resilience in times of drought. Cover crops can also suppress weeds, which may reduce pesticide use.
In collaboration with other public and private sector partners - including farmers and the USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service - Jeff helped found California's Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation Center (CASI) in 1998. CASI operates under the auspices of UC ANR.
CASI has bought together more than 2,200 partners to help solve some of the economic and environmental quality challenges associated with farming in California's Central Valley. The organization has pioneered systems that reduce tillage, fuel use and emissions. The practices CASI promotes have helped improve soil, water and air quality and have improved the efficiency of crop production. You can learn more about conservation agriculture via CASI's six-part documentary series.
Jeff shares that while conservation agriculture holds great promise, its adoption has been slower in California than in other parts of the U.S., including the Midwest. CASI hopes to change that.
--
--
In a nutshell, what is conservation agriculture?
The term conservation agriculture is an internationally and globally recognized set of principles, practices and ideas for production systems. It's based on many farmer experiences around the world. A lot of scientific research work underlies all the principles. It's a way of producing crops that is based on both technology/science and farmer experience that involves the goals of reducing overall soil disturbance, keeping the soil covered with residues, and working to enhance both above- and below-ground biodiversity.
It has a long history. Much of the work stems from goals in many regions of world to reduce soil erosion and loss. So simultaneously, conservation agriculture can reduce the loss of soil and conserve water, which is vital in many places around the world, including California.
The regions it developed in are diverse, and include parts of America's Great Plains and the Southeast, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Western Australia.
Editor's Note: Jeff has co-authored two peer-reviewed publications that discuss the history of conservation agriculture in California. One of the articles - A History of Tillage in California's Central Valley - was published in the scientific journal, Soil and Tillage Research. It details the evolution of conservation agriculture systems and approaches in California and the role that CASI has played.
Basin planted conservation agriculture (left) vs. conventional farmers practice ridge and furrow (right). | Photo: Peter Steward/Flickr/Creative Commons License
Can you tell us more about the methods involved in conservation agriculture?
Again, it's been a movement that involves both farmers and scientists, who have come up with the idea of reducing disturbances to the production system. That means everything from physical disturbances (one example of physical disturbance would be tractor use) to chemical and biological disturbances. By not disturbing the surface of the soil, we can preserve surface residues and take advantage of things like cover cropping making sure that is a prominent part of the production system.
There's a strong goal of eliminating the need to till the soil but how can we a
North America Stories
20/04/2024
As part of a push to improve the accessibility of its content, PBS Kids has announced that it has integrated American Sign Language (ASL) interpretations into m...
20/04/2024
SAN JOSE, Calif. Online security solution provider McAfee has released new research exploring the impact artificial intelligence (AI) and the rise of deepfakes ...
20/04/2024
The Federal Communications Commission has announced the agenda for an Open Meeting on Thursday, April 25, 2024 that will include votes on Net Neutrality Rules a...
20/04/2024
Virtual reality and its close relatives, such as extended reality, have been completely accepted into the workflow of high-end productions. Stepping into an LED...
20/04/2024
Video Games Round Out the Entertainment Package
Andy Marken April 19, 2024
0 Comments
By this, I take it you think everybody is who they say they are...
20/04/2024
With the Bears picking first, NBCUniversal Local's properties in Chicago plan extensive coverage of the NFL draft next week....
20/04/2024
Fox Sports said it hired two veteran advertising sales executives, with Jen Durda and Kathy Lydon both named VP....
20/04/2024
Daytime fans got a sneak peek at nominations for the 51st annual Daytime Emmys, with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) announcing the...
20/04/2024
DAZN is launching its Run It Up, its first multi-sports original vodcast, or video podcast, and a set of micro-podcasts ahead of the Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia fig...
20/04/2024
David Zaslav, CEO of troubled Warner Bros. Discovery, got a 27% increase in total compensation for 2023....
20/04/2024
New copper-catalyzed C-H activation strategy from Scripps Research Two-mode reactions inspired by human detox enzymes offer powerful new tools for drug discover...
19/04/2024
PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 18: (L-R) John Early and Theda Hammel attend the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Stress Positions premiere at Library Center Theatre on ...
19/04/2024
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
19/04/2024
Pictured: Midnight Family
By Stephanie Ornelas
A great way to get to know a city as culturally unique and rich as Mexico City is to listen to the stories tol...
19/04/2024
St. Louis, MO - April 18, 2024 - Studio Network Solutions (SNS) announced today that MOD won three prestigious industry awards at NAB Show 2024 held this week i...
19/04/2024
MELBOURNE, Fla., April 19, 2024 - The Board of Directors of L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.16 per common share, payab...
19/04/2024
PARIS Intel has announced that its plans for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 will include using artificial intelligence technology powered by Intel ...
19/04/2024
LAS VEGAS Technologists working on all aspects of the 8K media production chain offered an optimistic update at the 2024 NAB Show on the state of 8K in video pr...
19/04/2024
OpenDrives New Software-Defined Platform Atlas Wins 2024 NAB Show Product of the...
19/04/2024
Grass Valley Showcases Next-Generation T3 Series 4K/HD Digital Recording and Pla...
19/04/2024
NiTRo's M-CUBE Studio Levels Up Esports Productions with AJA Gear
Brie Clayton April 19, 2024
0 Comments
Esports' rapid rise to popularity can...
19/04/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 19
Brie Clayton April 19, 2024
0 Comments
Major update adds new DaVinci Neural Engine AI tools, new color ...
19/04/2024
Sony Pictures Entertainment is reportedly in talks with Apollo Global Management to make a bid to acquire Paramount which itself is currently discussing a merge...
19/04/2024
CBS Stations has launched CBS News California Investigates , with Julie Watts named regional CBS California correspondent. She will uncover and raise awarenes...
19/04/2024
MediaCo Holding, which owns radio stations WQHT (Hot 97) and WBLS in New York, said it acquired Estrella Media's Spanish-language video, audio and digital c...
19/04/2024
Netflix has ordered season five of fantasy drama The Witcher, which will be the final season. Production has recently begun on season four, and the two remainin...
19/04/2024
DirecTV Stream said it added eight more The CW affiliates to its lineup on Thursday....
19/04/2024
CBS has renewed Elsbeth for the 2024-2025 season. The drama, with Carrie Preston in the lead role, debuted February 29....
19/04/2024
With the Bears picking first, NBCUniversal Local's properties in Chicago plan extensive coverage of the NFL draft next week....
19/04/2024
PHILADELPHIA As government subsidies for broadband services come to an end, Comcast has launched NOW, a new product portfolio of lower-cost Internet, mobile and...
19/04/2024
DirecTV Stream has added more local CW stations for its streaming customers in Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Hartford-New Haven Conn., Phoenix, San ...
19/04/2024
NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES MediaCo Holding Inc. has announced that it has acquired all of Estrella Media's network, content, digital, and commercial operations....
19/04/2024
SAN JOSE, Calif. Adobe has announced that the all-new Adobe Express mobile app is available to all users, bringing features powered by Adobe Firefly generative ...
19/04/2024
LOS GATOS, Calif. Netflix reported another blockbuster quarter by adding 9.33 million new subscribers in Q1, 2024 as global paid memberships hit 269.6 million, ...
19/04/2024
The Current State of the Industry and the Future Impact of AI
Hillary Lewis April 18, 2024
0 Comments
The Entertainment Industry: How did we get here ...
19/04/2024
After Effects Tutorial Text Blur Reveal
Andy Ford April 18, 2024
0 Comments
Here's a way to do a quick blur reveal for your text layer. Start by...
19/04/2024
Hollyland Mars M1 Enhanced Wireless Transmitter / Receiver
Colin Smith April 18, 2024
0 Comments
This tutorial shows the new wireless transmitter rece...
19/04/2024
Resolve Fusion: Writing Expressions with Lua
Simon Ubsdell April 18, 2024
0 Comments
The answer to the very frequently-asked question: what is the pro...
19/04/2024
B+C and Next TV have announced the winners of Best of Show Awards for the 2024 NAB Show. The awards were judged by a panel of industry experts at the convention...
19/04/2024
Cate Blanchett narrates the Netflix series Our Living World, which premieres April 17. The four-part series looks at the extraordinary creatures around the glob...
19/04/2024
Apple TV Plus has a spinoff of For All Mankind in the works. It is called Star City and details the cosmonauts, engineers and intelligence officers working behi...
19/04/2024
Jacquie Walker, longtime anchor at WIVB Buffalo, will step down from the anchor desk. She has spent over 40 years at WIVB and her last day as an anchor is May 2...
19/04/2024
Bob Hearts Abishola will premiere in broadcast syndication this fall on such station groups as Nexstar Media Group, Sinclair, Hearst Television, Tegna, E.W. Scr...
19/04/2024
Live With Kelly and Mark remains TV's top entertainment talk show as Kelly Ripa and her co-host and husband Mark Consuelo celebrate their one-year anniversa...
19/04/2024
Sean McLaughlin has been named VP of news for Graham Media Group. He had been senior VP of local news at E.W. Scripps. He will will be responsible for developi...
19/04/2024
Netflix has shared the first trailer from One Hundred Years of Solitude, a series based on the esteemed novel by Gabriel Garc a M rquez. The streamer is on boar...
19/04/2024
NAB 2024 in Review: West Hall - SportsTech Buzz From AWS, Appear, Ateme, The Swi...
19/04/2024
NAB 2024 Draws 61,000+ Attendees With More Than Half Attending the Show for the ...
In partnership with UC Food Observer: The UC Food Observer is your daily serving of must-read news from the world of food, curated by the University of California. Follow on Twitter.
