III. No-Till Farming Systems - nifty

ANNEX V
Recently Published Book
The Environment and Zero Tillage
Edited by Helvécio Mattana Saturnino and John N. Landers
Translated by John N. Landers
This impressive book, published recently in
2002, offers a collection of papers by 13 distinguished
authors, presented at the 5 th Brazilian
National Zero Tillage Meeting at Goiânia, Goiás
State of Brazil in 1996. The book was first published
in Portuguese, then later translated to English.
The following extract has been taken from
the book’s Foreword.
Taking advantage of the highly positive results
of the 5 th Brazilian National Zero Tillage Meeting
in 1996, this book was edited in Portuguese in
order to better inform both the farming community
and environmentalists, ecologists, politicians,
opinion formers, and the general public of the
benefits of this new technology, Zero Tillage,
which establishes as strong link between the concerns
of soil conservation and obligations to the
environment. The English edition, translated and published with the support of
FAO, brings an international dimension to Brazil’s pioneering efforts.
When, in 1995, I had the opportunity to show the Nobel laureate research scientist
Norman Borlaug what was being achieved in Brazil in reclaiming the infertile,
acid soils of the “Cerrado” (Tropical Savannah) and Amazon regions, we
sought to show him that we had at our disposal technologies for sustainable agriculture
in the new frontiers of Brazil.
Referring to what he had seen, Dr Borlaug declared in lectures given in Belo
Horizonte and São Paulo:
“It is agronomic management – such as planting at the right time, including
Zero Tillage, which I admire because it reduces both erosion and costs – which
allows expression of the genetic potential of the new varieties” (April 1995).
“In 1995, I had the pleasure to visit various pars of the Cerrado region. I saw
many large-scale mechanized operations, in which not only was liming employed
but fertilizers were used to very good effect. Also, Conservation Agriculture was
practiced, for instance with Zero Tillage and Minimum Tillage, which leave the
crop residues on the soil surface in order to increase soil organic matter and reduce
erosion. In the central savannahs visited I saw little erosion.” (May 1996).
These conclusions complement the declaration of the speakers at the 5 th Bra-
517