Global spread of Conservation Agriculture

TLDR

Conservation Agriculture is defined by three core principles—minimal soil disturbance, biomass mulch cover, and crop diversification—alongside complementary integrated management practices. In 2015/16, Conservation Agriculture covered about 180 million hectares—12.5 % of global cropland—representing a 69 % rise since 2008/09, with adoption in 78 countries and an average annual expansion of 10.5 million hectares, most extensive in the Americas, Australia/New Zealand, Asia, Russia/Ukraine, Europe, and Africa.

Abstract

Conservation Agriculture (CA) comprises the practical application of three interlinked principles, namely: no or minimum mechanical soil disturbance, biomass mulch soil cover and crop species diversification, in conjunction with other complementary good agricultural practices of integrated crop and production management. In 2015/16, CA was practised globally on about 180 M ha of cropland, corresponding to about 12.5% of the total global cropland. In 2008/09, the spread of CA was reported to be about 106 M ha. This change constitutes an increase of some 69% globally since 2008/09. In 2015/16, CA adoption was reported by 78 countries, an increase in adoption by 42 more countries since 2008/09, respectively. The average annual rate of global expansion of CA cropland area since 2008/2009 has been some 10.5 M ha. The largest extents of adoption are in South and North America, followed by Australia and New Zealand, Asia, Russia and Ukraine, Europe and Africa.