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Società Italiana di Agronomia – XLVII Convegno Nazionale – Marsala (PA), 12-14 settembre 2018
L'Agronomia nelle nuove Agriculturæ
(Biologica, Conservativa, Digitale, di Precisione)
Page 1
© Rizzo et al., 2018
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY -SA
4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by -sa/4.0/
Sustainable Intensification of Crop Production Requires
Agricultural Equipment Innovation: the Case of Strip-Till
for Fine Seedbed Preparation in Silty Soil
Davide Rizzo12, Benoît Detot1, Andrii Yatskul1, Carolina Ugarte13
1 Chaire Agro-Machinisme et Nouvelles Technologies, UniLaSalle, Beauvais, FR name.surname@unilasalle.fr
2 InTerACT Research Unit, UniLaSalle, Beauvais et Rouen, FR
3 AGHYLE Research Unit, UniLaSalle, Beauvais et Rouen, FR
Introduction
Sustainable intensification of crop production calls for agricultural innovations. In the past, the solution
was to bring new land into cultivation, whereas current and prospected trends in world population growth
orient instead to foster more efficient use and management of the resources (Pisante et al. 2012). Various
solutions are being developed in function of the local agropedoclimatic conditions. In this context,
agronomists are questioning the soil tillage practices, eventually to reduce the tillage intensity. On the
one hand, the goal is to reduce fuel use, time and labour. On the other hand, a lower tillage intensity
might improve soil organic matter building and, in the end, soil health (DeJong-Hughes 2017).
Rethinking soil tillage inevitably underpins and follows farming system design (Leclercq and Corfdir
2017; Yatskul and Ugarte 2018). Indeed, the evolution of agriculture is inherently systemic, thus
requiring to address the production intensification across the various components of the agricultural
system and beyond (Darnhofer et al. 2012). Altogether, this results in taking into greater account multiple
stakeholders and embracing the complexity of the farmers’ decision-making (Douthwaite and Hoffecker
2017). The sustainable intensification process has though two main barriers: the learning curve to master
new techniques and the cost of equipment suited for the new practices. This communication aims to
discuss a project of strip-till design following an innovation system approach. First, we present the
agronomic challenge and our approach for a custom supply development. Then, we discuss the relevance
of our some early outcomes for the wider goal of sustainable intensification of crop production.
The agronomic challenge: designing a strip-till for fine seedbed preparation
Sustainable intensification can be pursued (and evaluated) in different way according to the local farming
system and agropedoclimatic condition. In this context, the European Regional Development Fund, the
French State and the Hauts-de-France Regional Council invested about 2.7 million EUR in a project
called “Demonstrating site network” (“Réseau de sites démonstrateur IAR” in French) for the period
2015-2020. This project aims to study and show the feasibility of the diversification of current cropping
systems in the region by the introduction of food and non-food crops for feed, bio-based products and
bioenergy (Lamerre et al. 2017). The project particularly addresses the production of knowledge to
support farmers at embracing the innovation. Accordingly, it includes 4 demonstration sites and 3 areas
to explore the organization of new supply chains. Three 4-year crop sequences, each replicated with or
without soil tillage, are tested on each site. The crop sequences are designed on three scenarios: baseline,
food-priority and biomass-priority. The baseline is the regional mixed farming system that includes
canola, winter wheat and silage maize. We focus here on the biomass scenario, which fosters the
intensification of fodder and energy crop production by introducing fodder beet and harvested catch crops
(Fig. 1). Introducing these crops requires therefore to simplify the soil tillage.
The region shows a predominance of silt and silt loam soils (USDA). These soil types are characterized
by a weak structural stability presenting a high risk of crusting and erosion. They thus benefit from
simplified soil tillage, when operated shortly before the seeding, because reducing soil degradation. Amid
the different approaches, strip-tillage appeared as the most promising because combining the reduction
of labour time, and the preparation of fine seedbed, as required for maize and beet (Duval 2014; Laufer
and Koch 2017). Though, available commercial strip-tillage tools, mostly passive, can achieve fine
seedbed if operated months ahead, or at a speed of 10-12 km/h. So, they can be combined only with
Società Italiana di Agronomia – XLVII Convegno Nazionale – Marsala (PA), 12-14 settembre 2018
L'Agronomia nelle nuove Agriculturæ
(Biologica, Conservativa, Digitale, di Precisione)
Page 2
© Rizzo et al., 2018
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY -SA
4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by -sa/4.0/
recent planters or operated separately by using RTK-GPS. Altogether, these machines and technologies
may require high investments by farmers, eventually hampering the whole farming system innovation.
A group of 6 students specializing in agricultural equipment at UniLaSalle (centre for higher education
in Northern France) were challenged to prototype a strip-till fitting commonly available beet planters
operating at low speed (3 km/h). This was achieved by an ad-hoc combination of tools, part of which
power-operated (Fig. 2). The field tests realized at the end of the current academic year with the single-
element prototype succeeded at preparing a fine seedbed 10 cm wide and 20-25 cm deep.
Fig 1 (left). Crop sequence of the biomass priority scenario.
Forage catch crops: (a) forage canola and Italian ryegrass;
(b) triticale 50%, forage pea 30% and fava beans (Vicia
faba L. var. minor) 20%. Mixed grains: bere 50%, forage
pea 25% and common vetch 25%. Strip-tillage (1 and 2) is
planned before the seeding of silage maize and fodder beet.
Fig 2 (above). Schematic representation of the prototype
strip-till (adapted from F. Pastol, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
UniLaSalle, AENT 158, 2018).
Conclusions and perspectives
Reducing the width and frequency of soil tillage appeared as a lever to deploy the sustainable
intensification of crop production in a mixed farming system on silt soil. Though, cost and customization
of tillage equipment emerged as a major barrier for desired innovation. By adopting a systemic approach,
we involved a group of agronomy students to design a fully adapted strip-tillage tool, thus based on
farmers’ and agronomic constraints. In conclusion, we widen the farming system innovation to include
a farmer-centred perspective, with the final goal to operationalize the design and adoption of sustainable
production practices.
References
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DeJong-Hughes J (2017) Upper Midwest Tillage Guide-Reducing tillage intensity : Soil management and health :
Agriculture : University of Minnesota Extension. In: Soil Manag. Health.
https://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/soils/tillage/tillage-guide-intensity/. Accessed 11 Jun 2018
Douthwaite B, Hoffecker E (2017) Towards a complexity-aware theory of change for participatory research programs
working within agricultural innovation systems. Agric Syst 155:88–102. doi: 10.1016/j.agsy.2017.04.002
Duval R (2014) Le strip-till en betteraves sucrières : résultats ITB
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