Conservation Agriculture in Paraguay

Conservation Agriculture in Paraguay

conservation Paraguay smallholder farmers

This week we explore an article summarizing a study on conservation agriculture and it's adoption in Paraguay. The study highlights the success and struggles in adoption of conservation agriculture practices within the country. After reading the article use the discussion points below to foster conversation around the globe.

Conservation Agriculture and Smallholder Farmers

Discussion Points

Borlaug Dialogue Day 3: Let's Get to Work

Borlaug Dialogue Day 3: Let's Get to Work

conservation food Hunger sweet potato

Today was the third and final day of the Borlaug Dialogue. There was plenty to think about and we were definitely left with a charge to get out and take action. Enough talk, it is time to take action and make a difference. Every little bit helps. As the previous days, below you will find a recap of our final day in Des Moines to keep the dialogue going.

Breakfast Keynote Address: Mehmood Khan

Up Hill Prairie Fire

Up Hill Prairie Fire

conservation prairie

Yesterday we burned a restored prairie on a hillside.  you can see from the photo below that the flames are going high in the air and the fire is moving fast.  Uphill fires make their own wind, so when burning a hillside you need to be prepared.  We actually lit a backfire at the top of the hill first.  It was a really good burn.

Home Made Air Seeder

Home Made Air Seeder

conservation Machinery

By Glenn Savage - Conservationist and Firearm Safety Instructor

Attached is a photo of my friend cradling a leaf blower fitted with a piece of plumbing I call a "T" fitting.  The fittings are directional.  

One dribbles in seed through the top hole and a powerful stream of air distributes the seed.  My friend helped me plant two acres in less than two hours using the "Seedinator". 

 I confirmed with Justin and Simon of M&M service that they offer "airflow" distribution of seed.  They mix the seed with potash {pelletized} and sling or use booms to distribute it on the surface. 

If you know anyone who needs to seed now or is waiting for spring to plant, encourage them to "do it now!"

The advantages:

•  ground is frozen so you won't have to wait in the spring for the ground to get firm
• planting now saves our no-till drills in the spring
• Air flowing is much faster
• The seed is layered (conditioned to germinate) naturally

Cover Crops Seminar in Elsberry, MO

Cover Crops Seminar in Elsberry, MO

conservation cover crops No-till

By Janette Swartz - Consultant with Soil Right Consulting Services:

Yesterday I attended a Soil Health/ Cover Crop Workshop in Elsberry, MO. If you haven’t been to the Elsberry Plant Materials Center it is very interesting. They have many plots of different cover crops seeded at different planting dates. They also had a rainfall simulator demonstrated by Doug Peterson. If you haven’t seen a rainfall simulator demonstrated YouTube has some pretty interesting videos done by the NRCS that would be good to watch.

 The first thing Doug did was perform a slake test. He placed a soil aggregate from a no-till field into a jar of water and also placed a soil aggregate from a conventionally tilled field in another jar of water. Immediately the conventionally tilled soil aggregate started falling apart compared to the no-till field where very little soil fell apart. This shows that tillage is destroying the soil glomalin which holds the soil together.

He then started the rain fall simulator. The first soil tray was a conventionally tilled soil. The second tray was a conventional till soil with cover crops. The third tray was a no till soil which has no cover crops (only because the grower didn’t have time to get them on this year). The fourth tray was a pasture soil with short grass on it. The fifth tray was a pasture soil with well managed grazing and a better grass cover. For each tray there are two jars underneath the front one was to catch the run off, and the back jar was to catch water that had infiltrated through the soil. As you can see from the pictures the first tray had a lot of muddy runoff and almost no infiltrated water. The second tray had a little more runoff (it received a little more “rain”) and quite a bit more water that infiltrated the soil. The third tray had no significant runoff and a lot of infiltration. The fourth tray had quite a bit of runoff and some infiltrated. The fifth tray had no runoff and all of the water infiltrated. I think this demonstration speaks a lot for no-till.

What was really interesting to me was how important managing your pasture ground is. I was surprised at how much runoff there was in the short pasture ground. I would have thought the grass roots would have held the soil and allowed for more water to infiltrate. The well managed pasture had almost no runoff. This shows how keeping the soil covered can be a benefit. In another picture you can see that Doug dumped the first tray out upside down. The top of the tilled soil was completely saturated and the soil that was on the bottom of the tray was completely dry. That shows that the tilled soil didn’t have any pore space and the water wasn’t able to penetrate anything but the surface. That is how the soil forms that top hard concrete crust when you get a rain.  

Slake Test

Rainfall Simulator