Environmental impact of no-tillage and conventional tillage systems in cereal production: A life cycle assessment

One of the three pillars of conservation agriculture supported to improve Morocco's cereal output's sustainability is direct seeding. Its effects on cereals, meanwhile, are understudied and need more real-world data. Our study examines the environmental consequences of no-tillage versus traditional tillage in the cultivation of wheat, durum wheat, and barley in Sidi Kacem, Morocco, in this setting. Using the conventional ISO Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique, data from 200 cereal farms were evaluated to create the assessment. The findings reveal that direct seeding was more environmentally friendly than traditional tillage across all impact categories for all crops. The reduced environmental impacts were primarily attributed to seeding and machinery use life cycle activities. However, for durum wheat and barley, certain impact categories, such as climate change, terrestrial eutrophication, and acidification, have increased despite the practice of direct seeding, primarily due to fertilizer production and field emissions life cycle activities. These increases may be attributed to higher fertilizer inputs, which are associated with limited crop rotation and the absence of mulching. Based on these findings, we recommend accelerating the adoption of direct seeding, while reconsidering the fertilization practices and integrating the other pillars of conservation agriculture.