This paper focuses on conservative agriculture, determined as minimal soil tillage, no tillage and enduring soil cover (mulch) together with rational rotations, as to achieve a more sustainable cultivation system for the future, in the context of the global warming and the permanent increase of population. Both farming and tillage play important roles in the agricultural systems. The conservative tillage systems in agriculture appeared in the U.S. and have developed in different ways, adapted to climatic zones and are considered unconventional or for soil conservation systems. Our research shows an improvement on conservative tillage, where no tillage, mulch and rotations significantly improve soil properties and other biotic factors also reducing the CO2 emissions. Advantages of conservative tillage systems are represented by improving soil physics and excellent control of soil erosion, accumulation and water retention in the soil, reduced labor and fuel costs and in some cases even increased productivity. In the conservative tillage systems, land must be covered with plant debris at a rate of 15-30%, and in minimal tillage system with crop residue mulch, coverage exceeds 30%. In the no tillage system, sowing is done directly in the stubble or on a ground covered with plant debris from the preceding plant, using precision machinery. The paper concludes that a conservative tillage system is a more environmentally friendly and sustainable management system for cultivating crops. Case studies from all over the world show that when using conservative agriculture for most of the crops we get a raise production sustainably and profitably. Advantages in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on global warming are also taken into consideration. These systems also have a big disadvantage, high consumption of herbicides for weed control. An increased attention for direct seeding requires preventive plant protection characters. Seeds must be treated with insecticide-fungicide and soil requires more herbicide than for the classic systems with plough. The paper concludes that farming and agriculture in the next decade will have to produce more food from less or the same land through more efficient management of natural resources and with less impact on the environment in order to sustain the permanent growing population demands. Promoting and adopting conservative agriculture management systems can help meet this goal.

conservation agriculture; no-tillage; minimum tillage, mulching, global warming

Presentation: oral