I. Title of the Best Practice

II. Overview of the Best Practice

A. Description
1.Has the objective of slowing global warming.
As part of better soil management practice, reduced tillage has been consistently identified as a practice that is capable of either sequestering atmospheric CO2 or reducing soil carbon loss. Tillage was once essential to control weeds and prepare soil for planting, but with technical advances, such as the reliance on agrochemicals, special seeders, etc., this is no longer necessary. A growing number of farmers are now using no-till or direct-seeding practices. Soils are usually granulated, with organic materials protected inside the granules or aggregates. Breaking these aggregates exposes the organic matter to soil microbes. As a result, practices that use minimal disturbance of soils tend to preserve the soil C. This practice can also reduce the amount of CO2 produced from fossil fuel use by farm machinery during cultivation.

2.Targets 2 GHGs.
It targets the reduction of CO2 emissions from breaking soil aggregates and from fossil fuel use. Though results are still inconsistent, some research studies in Canada suggest that N2O emission may also be lower under reduced tillage than with conventional tillage.

B. Reasons for Inclusion as a Best Practice
1.The degree of adoption of no till cropping in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta is considerable. This is very important considering that the large area (about 30 million hectares) of cultivated land in these provinces. Based on these facts, a realistic upper limit for adoption of no till and other annual cropping techniques over the next two decades might be 30-40% of all cultivated land. If this were achieved, the total CO2 sequestered in the next 15 years would be 134 million tonnes or an average of about 8.9 million tonnes per year. It has been speculated that a new equilibrium of carbon in the soil may be reached after 15 years of no till.

2.Saskatchewan farmers have already adopted no-till farming on 20% (2.9 million hectares) of Saskatchewan's cropland. The rate of adoption over the past 4 years has averaged about 60,000 to 70,000 hectares per year. Should this momentum be maintained for a couple of decades, significant additional carbon gains could be realized.

3.Adoption of new practices by farmers generally follows a sigmoidal growth curve. The growth of no till farming in Canada is just reaching the steep part of the curve now, so it is possible that the rate of adoption could increase significantly from the current trend, as more information becomes available.

4.The adoption of carbon sequestration practices has a broader effect on greenhouse gas emissions than simply adding carbon to the soil. They bring additional benefits by changing the entire approach to farm management and can lower input costs for fertilizer and fuel, and improve soil quality and increase net returns. The risks of erosion and water pollution are also reduced. The rate of adoption of minimum tillage and zero tillage practices is expected to be greatest in the Canadian Prairies due to the benefits related to reduced soil erosion and water conservation. Reductions in fuel and fertilizer use may lead to lower N2O emissions as well as reduced CO2 emissions. To date there has been very limited work done to quantify these benefits.

5.Problems and Their Solutions
A survey of studies across Canada has shown that no-till can increase soil C by as much as 10 Mg C ha^-1, when compared with tilled soil. However, in some cases, researchers have not been able to detect any effect of tillage on soil C. The inconsistency of the results is not surprising, because the change in soil C is affected by climate, soil properties, length of time under no-till, cropping practices, crop yield and many other factors. Some of the variability may even simply reflect the difficulty of measuring soil C change precisely.

III. Categorizing the Best Practice

1. Classification(s) (Indicate main classification(s) only.)
( ) Regulatory Approach (Policy approaches - regulations, incentives, etc)
( X ) Practical Action (Action undertaken independently by a social actor)
( ) Social Network Mechanism (Cooperative structure)

2. Social Actor(s) Involved (Indicate main social actor(s) only)
( ) Citizens
( ) Central government
( ) Local government
( X ) Business

3. Sector(s) (indicate main sector(s) only.)
( ) Energy
( ) Household
( ) Transportation
( ) Industrial Enterprises
( ) Other (Non-Industrial) Business
( X ) Agriculture / Land Use / Forestry
( ) Other

4. Target Greenhouse Gas(es)
( X ) CO2
( ) CH4
( X ) N2O
( ) HFC
( ) PFC
( ) SF6
( ) Other

IV. List of Attachments

V. Please indicate a person to contact for more information about this Best Practice.

Contact Person:	Doug McKell	R. Desjardins
Title:	Executive Manager	Research Scientist
Organization:	Saskatchewan Soil	Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Conservation Assoc.
Email:		McKell.SSCA @SK.Sympatico.ca
		Desjardins@em.agr.ca
Tel:	306 695 4234	613 759 1522
Fax:	306 695 4236	613 759 1432
Address:		960 Carling Ave Ottawa Ont Canada K1A0C6