• Agriculture and Environment: the need to adopt conservation technology
• Justification for the Congress
• Target audience of the Congress
• Organising Entities
• Call for papers and posters
• Languages
• Interactive Workshops - Agricultural Fair
• Tentative program
• Secretariat of the Congress

Several documents with futher information on the Congress, including: first announcement,  registration fees, sponsorship conditions, instructions to authors and the tentative program can be obtained from the: 

DOWNLOAD AREA

• Agriculture and Environment: the need to adopt conservation technology

Conventional agriculture mainly characterised by straw burning, intensive tillage and external inputs, has contributed to soil degradation through loss of organic matter, soil erosion and compaction. This has led to negative effects on soil, water and air qualities, global climate, wildlife and biodiversity that, in turn, affect food security and livelihoods of people throughout the World. Sustainable development is an achievable goal providing conservation agriculture practices that protect productivity and the environment are implemented.

Soil degradation due to erosion and compaction processes is probably the most serious environmental problem caused by conventional agriculture. About 10 million hectares of land are lost per year for agricultural uses, due to soil degradation processes.

Conventional agriculture, i.e. mouldboard ploughing and/or straw burning, in addition to land degradation, produce extra carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions to the atmosphere and reduce the potential CO₂ sink effect of the soil.

Conservation agriculture refers to a range of soil management practices that minimise effects on composition, structure and natural biodiversity and reduce erosion and degradation. Such practices include direct sowing/ no-tillage, reduced tillage/ minimum tillage, non Ð or surface- incorporation of crop residues and establishment of cover crops in both annual and perennial crops. As such the soil is protected from rainfall erosion and water runoff; the soil aggregates, organic matter and fertility level naturally increase, and soil compaction is reduced. Furthermore, less contamination of surface water occurs, water retention and storage is enhanced, which allows recharging of aquifers.

Conservation agriculture techniques are being progressively adopted under different climatic conditions, from cold regions to tropical regions, semi-arid areas to high rainfall areas. Farmers, advisers and agricultural administrators need to be aware and further informed of the agronomic, economic and environmental benefits of these new developments and progress and therefore an aim is to encourage interaction between farmers, advisors and scientists throughout the developed and developing world.

This Congress should serve to integrate good environmental and agricultural practices into policy structures throughout the World. This conceptual process aims to match the environmental requirements of sustainable agriculture with the economic needs of the farming community.

The full involvement of all concerned stakeholders is an important prerequisite for its successful development.

1- Development agencies, donors

2- Policy makers & Administrators

3- Farmers, Farmer Unions, advisors

4- Scientists: agronomist, environmentalists

5- Agricultural Industry

6- Agricultural mass-media

The organisation of this World Congress is an initiative of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF). FAO and ECAF would appreciate very much to obtain the vital support of the World Bank and other European administrations to enable a much broader international dimension for this event. The collaboration of national and international farmers and network organisations with broad experience in conservationist techniques, such us Argentine APRESSID, Latin-American CAAPAS and RELACO, American CTIC and others, will be very important for the development of this Congress.

Sessions will comprise invited oral presentations and selected offered papers. Offered contributions, as poster displays will be arranged to complement the above themes. Full titles and one page abstracts that will be citable will be required by March 31^st, 2001.

The second announcement will contain instructions on preparation of abstracts that may be submitted either as hard copy or electronic mail.

English, French and Spanish.

In association with the conference programme, a series of interactive workshops and field demonstrations will be held where conservation agriculture practices have been adopted / implemented for a range of crops and situations (olives, vineyards, almonds, field crops, irrigated and semi-arid).

October 1, 2001
Registration and early pickup of materials

October 2&3, 2001

Plenary Sessions

First Plenary Session

• Food Security and Poverty Alleviation through Conservation Agriculture
• Food Production and New Challenges in the World Agriculture
• Economic and Policy Perspectives for the promotion of Conservation Agriculture

• Global environmental impact of Conservation Agriculture

• Agriculture and Environment: A vision from Europe

Second Plenary Session: Farmer Experiences with Conservation Agriculture worldwide

Round Table: International Network for Conservation Agriculture

Thematic Sessions

Thematic Session 1. Recent innovations on Conservation Agriculture

a) Conservation Tillage, No-tillage and related technologies
b) Cover crop management
c) Mineral and organic fertiliser management
d) Weed management
e) Cropping systems

f) Integration Agriculture/Livestock

Thematic Session 2. Adaptation of the agricultural industry to Conservation Agriculture

a) New agricultural equipments and Mechanisation in big farms
b) Equipment in small farms
c) Integrated Pest Management for Conservation Agriculture
d) Adaptation of seed production for Conservation Agriculture
e) Perspectives of Precision Agriculture in Conservation Agriculture

Thematic Session 3. Influence of Conservation Agriculture on Environment

a) CO2 emissions and carbon sequestration
b) Agro-chemical leaching & water contamination
c) Soil erosion & soil structure/ quality
d) Biodiversity and agriculture: Soil Biology
e) Soil moisture conservation

f)  Conventional Agriculture and desertification

Thematic Session 4. Socio-Economic Perspectives and Policy Implications

a) Economic globalisation and Conservation Agriculture: The case of Mercosur
b) Evolution of agri-environmental policy in EU
c) Farm Bill for soil protection in USA
d) Evaluation of agri-environmental policies in developing countries
e) Strategies for promoting Conservation Agriculture at National and/ or Regional level

Thematic Session 5. Developments, Food Security and Poverty Alleviation

a) Strategies for International Cooperation
b) Case studies: ongoing programmes on International Cooperation
c) Conservation Agriculture in support of Food Security
d) Prevention of Natural Climatic Disasters

October 4 & 5, 2001
Interactive workshops (lectures and field demonstrations)

1. Olives, vineyards and almond orchards.
2. Crops under irrigation.
3. Semi-arid cropping systems (winter wheat, sunflower, winter mediterranean legumes).
4. Prairies and high rain fed areas.
5. Comparative field trials on diverse soil management systems.

ECAF 

CIFA - Alameda del Obispo
Avda. Menéndez Pidal, s/n 
Apdo. 3092
14080 Córdoba (Spain)
Phone: +34.957.760797
Fax: +34.957.760797
E-mail: conservation.agriculture@ecaf.org
Contact person: Armando Martinez-Vilela

To receive further information on the Congress
Please complete this form and return this form to:
Armando Martinez-Vilela, ECAF Congress Secretariat
E-mail: conservation.agriculture@ecaf.org