No- or low tillage incl. mulching and direct seeding and strip till
No- or low (conservation) tillage totally or largely foregoes the use of ploughs. Instead, tillage tools are used that do not turn the soil (e.g. cultivators, disc harrows) or disturb the structure of the soil while leaving crop residues (= mulch) near or on the surface of the soil. Strip cultivation or striptill is a variable tillage and sowing method mainly for row crops, which creates a 15 to 20 cm wide seedbed, leaving two-thirds of the field untilled. The idea behind these technologies is to create a stable soil texture that is not highly susceptible to soil sealing while maintaining or increasing infiltration capacity. The measure is very efficient for heavy rain risk reduction on farmland by increasing of soil water retention and decreasing runoff.
Check out the RAINMAN good practice examples:
- Implementation of a little detention pond integrated into the agricultural management, DE
- Implementation of risk reduction measures through land consolidation, DE
- Proposal of the interaction element – Baulk near Drhovle, CZ
- Land use and objectives for agricultural use considering the consequences of climate change in the Upper Elbe Valley/Eastern Ore Mountains Regional Plan, DE
READ MORE:
- Office International de l’Eau (2015): Natural Water Retention Measures, URL: http://nwrm.eu (19.03.2020): mulching, no till agriculture, low till agriculture;
- Výzkumný ústav vodohospodářský TGM (2018): Katalog přírodě blízkých opatření pro zadržení vody v krajině [Catalogue of green water retention measures in the landscape], URL: http://www.suchovkrajine.cz/vystupy (25.03.2020): Agrotechnická opatření;
- Norbert Billern, André Assmann, Jessica Kempf, Heike Puhlmann (2018): Land-und forstwirtschaftliche Maßnahmen zur Stärkung des Wasser-und Bodenrückhalts in Kommunen, URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324797743_Land-und_forstwirtschaftliche_Massnahmen_zur_Starkung_des_Wasser-und_Bodenruckhalts_in_Kommunen (19.03.2020): Mulchsaat;
- Landesamt für Umwelt, Landwirtschaft und Geologie (Ed.) (2016): Dezentraler Hochwasserschutz im ländlichen Raum, URL: https://publikationen.sachsen.de/bdb/artikel/13555 (25.03.2020): angepasste Landwirtschaft
Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology
