A presentation at the WCCA 2011 event in Brisbane.

1. LIFE+ AGRICARBON
Sustainable Agriculture in Carbon
Arithmetics
5 WCCA. Brisbane, Australia
September 29th 2011
González-Sánchez EJ, Gil-Ribes
JA, Ordóñez-Fernández R, Agüera-
Vega J, Márquez-García F, Carbonell-
Bojollo R, Veroz-González O, Gómez-
Ariza M; Pérez-García, JJ

2. LIFE + AGRICARBON. Some basic
data
 Duration of the project:
48 months (ending 31/12/2013)
 Total budget: € 2,674,653
 EU contribution: €1,237,262 (46%)
 Generic Theme:
Reduction GHG emissions.
 Coordinating beneficiary:
AEAC.SV (Spanish Association for Conservation Agriculture .
Living Soils) – Non profit making association.
www.agriculturadeconservacion.org
 Associated beneficiaries:
◦ University of Córdoba (Spain)
◦ IFAPA (Spain)
◦ European Conservation Agriculture Federation – ECAF (Belgium).
www.ecaf.org

3. Climate change and agriculture
Agriculture is the 3rd activity
emitting GHG in
Spain, MAINLY DUE TO THE
SPREAD OF SOIL TILLAGE
(around 90%) meaning:
 Losses of 50% Soil Carbon.
 When tilling there are high
CO2 releases from soil to
atmosphere, due to burning of
Soil Carbon. C+O2 = CO2
 High ENERGY consumptions
due to excesive and intensive
tillage.
Flame credits to Don Reicosky 

4. Erosion: also a major environmental
problem
EUROPE: 157 M ha are serioulsy affected by erosion
(3 times as large as France)
SPAIN: More than 50% of agrarian surface is also
affected.

6. Erosion and OM are linked!
Spain. Erosión map (left) and OM content map (right)
Adapted from JRC, European Commission.

7. Conservation agriculture:
a holistic approach
Conservation agriculture, based in NO
TILLAGE systems, with PERMANENT SOIL
COVER with CROP ROTATIONS offers:
 Mitigation of the Climate Change.
 Crops adaptation to the Climate Change
 Control of erosion and desertification.
 Increased energy saving and efficiency.
 At least same yields for European farmers.
Precision agriculture
is a good partner!

8. LIFE + AGRICARBON
Sinergies
MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Conservation Agriculture:
• Use soil as carbon sink.
• Reduces CO2 emissions due to the no tillage of the soil.
• Need much less fuel in farms.
• Promotes a better water use by crops, specially important in
drought conditions.
Precision Agriculture:
• Helps better tractor driving (CTF), avoiding
overlaps, meaning less inputs needed in farms.
• Optimise the use of agrichemicals.

10. LIFE + AGRICARBON aims to…
Boost CA and PA by:
◦ Organizing local events and
a Congress in 2013 in
Brussels (Belgium)
◦ Creating an online platform
where farmers may check
their own emissions and Adapt agriculture to the
costs
new climate conditionants
◦ Providing scientific info found in global warming (for
about CA+PA for policy
makers to use (CAP 2020!) South Europe: less rain and
higher temperatures).
Help to mitigate climate
change emitting less CO2
and sinking it in the soil

14. 90 hectares in Southern Spain in 3 farms
SOIL AREA (ha)
FARM CROP MANAGEMENT
Conventional 4.0745
BLOCK 1 SUNFLOWER
No Tillage 4.0746
Conventional 5.0001
RABANALES BLOCK 2 WHEAT
No Tillage 5.0002
Conventional 5.0002
BLOCK 3 CHICKPEA
No Tillage 5.0002
Conventional 6.1357
BLOCK 1 HABA
No Tillage 6.1399
Conventional 4.9995
CARMONA BLOCK 2 SUNFLOWER
4.9995
No Tillage
Conventional 6.7548
BLOCK 3 WHEAT
6.7553
No Tillage
Conventional 5.0437
BLOCK 1 WHEAT
No Tillage 5.0437
Conventional 5.0434
LA PLUMA BLOCK 2 SUNFLOWER
No Tillage 5.043
Conventional 5.0435
BLOCK 3 CHICKPEA
No Tillage 5.0435

15. Soils
Depth pH Sand Silt Clay
Farm OM (%) CEC Texture
(cm) Cl2Ca (%) (%) (%)
0-20 2.9±0.6 7.2±0.5 24±10 31±13 32±5 37±12 L-C
RABANALES 20-40 2.3±0.7 7.2±0.6 27±12 31±14 31±5 38±12 L-C
40-60 1.8±0.6 7.3±0.6 27±12 28±14 31±7 41±11 C
0-20 1.6±0.4 7.7±0.1 34±8 20±5 29±3 51±5 C
CARMONA 20-40 1.4±0.3 7.7±0.1 35±9 19±5 28±2 53±4 C
40-60 1.2±0.3 7.7±0.1 34±10 19±5 28±3 53±5 C
0-20 1.9±0.4 7.8±0.1 34±11 16±4 26±4 58±6 C
LA PLUMA 20-40 1.8±0.3 7.8±0.1 34±12 16±4 25±4 59±6 C
40-60 1.6±0.3 7.8±0.1 35±12 17±5 26±6 57±7 C

16. Measurements of CO2 flux
Monthly and after every
operation.
Comparing TT to NT

17. Monitored work
In every tractor a
data logger is
connected to fuel
flow meters and PA
equipment for CTF

19. Average yields
(Seasons extremely wet, under historic averages)
Carmona La Pluma
CA TT CA TT
Wheat 1.037 1.024 2.620 2.972
Sunflower 1.332 1.292 1.312 1.140
Legume 2.058 1.446 492 1.282
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Temperatura (ºC)
350
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22.5
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300
17.5
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Precipitación (mm)
250
12.5
Lluvia Campo 1
10
Lluvia Campo 2
200 Lluvia Campo 3 7.5
Temperatura Campo 1
Temperatura Campo 2
150 Temperatura Campo 3
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22. Yield map Carmona farm

23. Fuel consumption and overlaps measured
Fuel (L/ha) Overlap (%)
Moldboard 22.5 ± 4.1 16.2 ± 3.7
Chisel 14.4 ± 0.4 12.0 ± 8.1
Semi-chisel 6.7 ± 3.1 4.7 ± 1.3
Disc harrow 7.6 ± 1.4 26.2 ± 14.3
Cultivator 5.6 ± 0.8 11.7 ± 1.5
NT seeder 7.1 ± 1.3 4.7
TT seeder 5.9 ± 1.2 13.2
Sprayer 1.2 ± 0.4 14.6 ± 1.5
Fert. Broadcaster 1.7 ± 0.3 12.1 ± 1.4
Harvester 10.5 ± 0.7 -

24. Energy production and use (MJ /ha),
energy efficiency (EE) and energy productivity (EP) in
kg/kJ
Energy spent (MJ)
Energy Indirect Energy Energy
Direct
Field Crop Soil M. produced spent EE EP
energy Machin Seed Fertil. Agric.
(MJ) . s (MJ)
16,31
NT 21,313 1,199 301 3,454 302 21,573 0,99 80
7
Wheat
18,29
TT 18,750 1,625 408 3,454 346 24,124 0,78 60
1
Car. Sunflo NT 13,358 1,152 289 84 2,451 1,299 5,275 2,53 180
w. TT 12,913 1,983 498 84 2,748 493 5,806 2,22 160
Legum NT 18,696 898 226 2,357 348 339 4,168 4,49 390
e TT 15,960 1,562 392 2,726 431 388 5,499 2,90 250
11,24
NT 45,750 1,175 295 3,234 701 16,645 2,75 220
0
Wheat
12,88
TT 43,875 2,824 709 3,234 681 20,328 2,16 170
0
Plu. Sunflo NT 10,230 1,013 254 84 0 298 1,649 6,20 450
w. TT 9,619 2,255 566 84 0 16 2,921 3,29 240

25. Rainfall recorded in the study period and temporal evolution of
the CO2 emissions for each crop and soil management system.
Farms: La Pluma, Carmona and Rabanales respectively.
NT (No-tillage), TT (Traditional Tilllage)

26. Daily CO2 emissions and maximum difference
fs
gf
g

27. CONCLUSIONS
1. First results of the LIFE+ Agricarbon project
confirm that CA+PA are allied to mitigate
climate change.
2. As average Energy Productivity is improved
by 36% and CA saved 78.3L/ha in the
rotation.
3. First results in the gas flux measures have
shown high reduction in CO2 emissions in all
CA crops in comparison to traditional tillage.
4. Farmers adopt easily CA where high impact

28. Thank you!
Meet you anytime in
www.agricarbon.eu
and in Brussels in 2013 in the
International Conference on CA
egonzalez@ecaf.org