Direct Seeding on Plant Cover: Sustainable Cultivation of Our Planet’s Soils

Abstract

Savannas (cerrados) in the humid tropics of Brazil cover an area of 200 million ha, a quarter of which is under intensive agriculture. Tillage techniques used in the cerrados have resulted in serious failures and highly degraded soils. CIRAD and its public and private Brazilian partners have developed direct seeding systems over permanent mulch or plant cover. Seven million ha are currently being cropped with direct seeding strategies in the cerrados as an upshot of this research. Three systems have been developed: continuous grain production with two annual crops, followed by temporary dry-season grazing; production of grain crops and sward for mulching and temporary grazing; and an annual sequence of grain crops on live forage cover. These systems cost-effectively produce high stable crop yields, function like natural ecosystems, and require that farmers be constantly innovative and flexible.