European farmers could remove nearly 200 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by implementing Conservation Agriculture (CA) techniques – the equivalent of closing 50 coal-fired power plants. That’s according to a report published this week by the European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF), which is made up of groups from across Europe. ECAF claims that every four hectares converted to CA management would negate the average annual emissions of a European citizen.

The report was launched in a session of the European Parliament’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee. Its findings are based on public funded projects under the EU’s LIFE programme for supporting environment and conservation work, and a literature review of studies on CA management.

The report’s authors tout CA as a means to meet agriculture’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, pointing out that, at present, EU countries are set to fall short of their emissions reduction targets, which have been made legally binding under the Paris Climate Agreement.

No-till is a key component of the package recommended by ECAF, which argues that evidence supports not tilling most soils, allowing organic matter (rich in carbon) to build up in them; this both improves soil fertility and saves energy and fuel, through reducing the number and intensity of tillage operations.

The three tenets of the Conservation Agriculture programme the Federation recommends include:

• Minimum soil disturbance - So, no till.
• Permanent soil cover - Maintaining stubble in arable crops, seeding or preserving ground cover between rows of trees in permanent crops to inhibit weed growth and prevent soil erosion
• Rotations or crop diversification in annual crops - In annual crops this deters pests and diseases by breaking cycles that are maintained in monocultures.

According to the report, CA management can reduce soil erosion by 90% in European soils, and has the potential for huge increases in soil organic carbon (including in the Atlantic biogeographical region of which the UK is a part) all while maintaining crop yields. UN FAO figures show it’s already being practiced on over 160 million hectares worldwide, mainly in the agricultural powerhouses of North and South America and in Australia. Amongst Europe’s larger agricultural producers, the UK has the highest percentage of arable farmland under no-till management.  

For Europe, ECAF acknowledges that a switch to CA would require a shift in machinery, with the need to sow seeds through cover crops or open grooves of sowing certain seeds meaning farmers would need new equipment. Though ECAF states that crop rotations and more attention to diversity would reduce pest and disease pressures, the report controversially highlights glyphosate as a key element in CA; the herbicide’s future in Europe is uncertain, as debates over its effects on human health and environmental impacts continue amongst European regulators, but ECAF maintains that “Without glyphosate the maintenance and spread of the area under CA in Europe would be at risk, or would depend on the use of other herbicides with a less favourable ecotoxicological profile and at a higher cost to the farmers.”

Nevertheless, ECAF has submitted an opinion to the EU Commission’s consultation on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), arguing for Conservation Agriculture to be recognised under greening commitments in order to incentivise greater uptake in Europe.

The full report can be accessed here.