No-till farming in the tropics and subtropics
Plantío directo (siembra directa) en el trópico y subtrópico
- Date
- 1971-1972 · confidence medium
- Place
- Rolândia, Paraná, Brazil
- Credited to
- Paraná farmers (Herbert Bartz and others) and the IAPAR institute
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Sowing without ploughing, with plant cover and crop rotation, adapted to heavily raining, erodible tropical soils. It spread through Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay until becoming a regional standard.
No-till sowing is not a Latin American invention (UK and US, 1940-1960); the Brazilian contribution is its agronomic adaptation to the tropics and large-scale adoption.
What it led to
- Reduced soil erosion
- Expansion of soy and second-crop maize
- Argentina's direct-seeding systems (AAPRESID, 1989)