Reduced tillage and green manures for sustainable organic cropping systems

The overall aim of the project Reduced tillage and green manures for sustainable organic cropping systems (TILMAN-)ORG are to design improved organic cropping systems with enhanced productivity and nutrient use efficiency, more efficient weed management and increased biodiversity, but lower carbon footprints. The TILMAN-ORG project is funded by the CORE Organic II Funding Bodies being partners of the FP7 ERA-Net project, CORE Organic II. The TILMAN-ORG project’s overall goals are to design improved organic cropping systems with: - enhanced productivity and nutrient use efficiency, - more efficient weed management and increased biodiversity, but - lower carbon footprints (in particular increased carbon sequestration and lower GHG emissions from soils). These goals will be achieved by adapting and integrating conservation agriculture techniques (in particular reduced tillage and improved use of green manures) into organic farming systems to intensify biological soil functions like nutrient cycling, soil carbon build-up, and biological nitrogen fixation, while at the same time optimising management protocols for weeds (which are the main challenge when introducing minimum tillage systems). Project partners - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) - ISARA Lyon - Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU) - University of Kassel - Louis Bolk Institute (LBI) - Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) - ILVO - Public Research Center-Gabriel Lippmann (CRP-GL) - Newcastle University (UNEW) - The Organic Research Centre - Elm Farm (ORC) - Estonian University of Life Sciences (EULS) - Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerche Agro-Ambientali (CIRAA) - Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA) - Universitat de Barcelona (UB) - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL Austria)