Green manure

Antonio Paparella, Athanasios Petsakos, Kristin E. Davis and Chun Song

No 4, Agricultural Management Practices to Mitigate Nature Loss Brief from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: Soil management is a critical aspect of crop production for its impact on environmental and economic sustainability. Ordinarily, in annual cropping systems, land lays fallow in the period that follows the harvest of one crop and precedes the sowing of the next. This period of non-cultivation helps reconstitute the soil fertility and water reserves [1], [2]. However, improperly maintaining the land fallow is shown to deplete soil quality and harm the environment. Without vegetation cover, the soil is more exposed to erosion [3], surface runoff [4], and degradation of its organic content [4]. Erosion and surface runoff not only reduce soil fertility, leading to an inefficient use of resources [3], but also pose a potential threat of freshwater contamination with nitrates and other agricultural by-products [5]. The degradation of soil organic matter has severe impacts when not reconstituted and preserved. The soil's capacity to hold water [3] and nutrients decreases, making control of those critical inputs complex for farmers. Climate regulation is also affected: soil organic matter stores carbon within the soil ecosystem, but its degradation releases it into the atmosphere, exacerbating greenhouse gas levels [6]

Keywords: green manures; organic fertilizers; fertilizers; natural resources; nature conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-10-31
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/177480

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:antlsb:177480

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Agricultural Management Practices to Mitigate Nature Loss Brief from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().