Geraghty Consulting provide a wide range of consultancy services to the agricultural and environmental sectors. In Ireland, for nearly twenty years now, we have consistently promoted and supported the development of Conservation Agriculture(CA) practices, including minimum tillage and no-tillage, on farms with cropping enterprises.
Our guarantee is that we will reduce costs and increase profit on any farm where suitable CA practices are adopted and applied under local conditions. Farmers that implement well planned and designed minimum tillage and no-tillage systems will be rewarded with savings in time, labour, machinery costs, and diesel consumption (Table 1 below). These sustainable techniques will also bring an end to soil degradation and associated nutrient losses.
Conservation Agriculture is based around three guiding principles:
- Minimal soil disturbance
- Permanent soil cover with plants or residues
- Use of crop rotations and cover crops
CA will bring significant benefits not only to farmers, but to the environment, and civil society on a worldwide basis. If well applied, CA systems will ensure sustainable and profitable crop production. Our soils and water will be protected and natural biodiversity will be enhanced.
Worldwide, on approximately 185 million hectares, successful and progressive farmers are growing crops using CA practices. Neither plough nor cultivation implements are used for establishing a wide range of crops. The total area is roughly three hundred times the entire tillage area in Ireland and it is increasing on an annual basis.