Modeling conservation agriculture

Abstract

A sustainable land management should aim at high production, while minimizing risk, maintaining quality of soil and water. Excessive tillage can decrease soil carbon storage and influence the soil environment of a crop. The evaluation of the impact of tillage systems on soil biophysical properties and on the growth crops requires a system approach. In this chapter, we introduce the system approach to land use sustainability (SALUS) model and its tillage component to evaluate the effects of tillage on soil on water infiltration and time to ponding and soil biophysical properties.