A system approach to conservation agriculture

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th US President (1953 to 1961), summarized the plow dilemma by stating, “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you are a thousand miles from corn field” (Eisenhower 1956). Despite great progress in agriculture since the 1950s, farming may now pose even bigger challenges because of the increasing demand for food, feed, fiber, and fuel in the 21st century. The challenges of farming are exacerbated by a changing and uncertain climate, increase in risks of soil degradation by erosion and other processes driven by decline in soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration and pool, increase in dependence on energy-based inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, high risks of shifts in spectrum of pests and pathogens, and decrease in availability of soil and water resources because of diversion to nonagricultural uses. Hence, there is a growing emphasis on sustainable intensification, climate-resilient and eco-efficient agroecosystems, and the linkage of farming and soil management to sustainable development goals (United Nations 2014).