Conservation tillage spreads to Beijing

Beijing Municipality, China, is to abolish deep-plow farming and adopt conservation tillageDescription Any tillage and planting system that covers 30 percent or more of the soil surface with crop residue after planting to reduce soil erosion by water. Authoritative On-line References and Resources http://www2.ctic.purdue.edu/Core4/CT/Definitions.html Core4Conservation is part of the Purdue University-based Conservation Tillage Information Centre. in the next three years. Erosion of topsoil has become a real issue in the region, with severe dust storms resulting in soil loss. Conservation tillage has already been piloted on over half a million hectares of farmland in other Chinese counties, and is also expected to reduce water demand.

Conservation tillage involves leaving the residue of the previous year's crop in the ground to help conserve soil structure. The following crop is then planted through this residue, generally after the burning down of subsequent crop/weed growth with a non-selectiveDescription A chemical product used for eliminating all types of weeds (annual and perennial grasses and broadleaved weeds). Authoritative On-line References and Resources http://www.weeds.iastate.edu/ An invaluable source of contemporary information about herbicides and weeds from Iowa State University. weedkiller like paraquat.

A new project, called ‘Demonstration Project for Rainfed Farming and Water Saving Agricultural Science and Technology for Maize’, will be launched in Beijing in 2007.

This project will focus on the use of drought resistant maize varieties and conservation tillage. Mr. Jiangou Yang, the director of the Agriculture Division of Beijing Plant Protection Station has to set up the list of the recommended crop protection techniques for this project. Financial support from Beijing Municipality is RMB 20 million (€ 2 million).

* Gramoxone is a brand name under which the active ingredient, paraquat, is sold in China.