Abstract
Organic agricultural production has become a major economic and cultural force. However, in water-limited environments the tools used for weed control and nutrient supply, namely tillage and cover crops, may not be environmentally or economically sustainable as tillage damages soil and cover crops use valuable water. Thus, a major challenge has been finding appropriate ways to minimize tillage and terminate cover crops while still controlling weeds and obtaining cover crop ecosystem services. One approach to achieve this is through the economically viable integration of crop and livestock enterprises to manage weeds and terminate cover crops. In this article we (1) review research needs and knowledge gaps in organic agriculture with special focus on water-limited environments; (2) summarize research aimed at developing no-till and reduced tillage in organic settings; (3) assess approaches to integrate crop and livestock production in organic systems; and (4) present initial results from a project assessing the agronomic and weed management challenges of integrated crop-livestock organic systems aimed at reducing tillage intensity in a water-limited environment. The goal of eliminating tillage in water-limited environments remains elusive, and more research is needed to successfully integrate tactics, such as cover crops and livestock grazing to increase organic farm sustainability.
Highlights
Are tillage-based organic systems, in water-limited environments, able to sustainably maintain or increase productivity when confronted with nutrient deficiencies, the need for soil conservation, and pest management challenges? What knowledge breakthroughs will close the existing yield gap between conventional and organic cropping systems and ensure net profitability while maintaining the biological and environmental integrity of its production base? How sustainable is organic production in the face of surging consumer and market demands? What strategies can help organic farmers effectively reduce tillage intensity and frequency, while enhancing the system’s resiliency to increased temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns? Answering these questions will provide critical knowledge that will allow organic agriculture to increase market share and enhance productivity and net returns, while maintaining environmental underpinning and economic viability
While each of these questions is important, this paper focuses on the complexities of reducing tillage in semi-arid organic systems
We present preliminary lessons we are learning in a project we are conducting on the agronomic and weed management challenges of integrated crop-livestock organic systems aimed at reducing tillage intensity in a water-limited environment
Summary
Another study in Montana, USA, assessed the ability of legume green manure of lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) or pea to provide N to a subsequent wheat crop, and showed that there was inadequate N to maximize grain yield, even when tillage was applied to accelerate nutrient release [43] These results, while showing some promise to manage annual organic cropping phases without tillage in multi-year cropping systems in relatively wetter agroecosystems, indicate the need for research on additional tools to manage weeds and nutrients in semi-arid systems. Based on successes observed in conventional systems [44] and organic vegetable farms [12,13], researchers and small-grain organic farmers are exploring approaches to minimize tillage intensity while maintaining or improving nutrient cycling and cover crop termination efficiency in the NGP
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