Conservation agriculture: How Romanian farmers can help protect the environment and gain from it

Romanian farmers who are interested in creating a better climate context for future generations can also get financial benefits from this activity by getting better crops and selling carbon certificates on the international markets.

By adapting their tillage and cultivation techniques and making the transition to conservation agriculture, farmers can earn an additional EUR 45-105 euro/ha/year, by capturing in the soil 3-7 tons of CO2e/ha/year, according to Commoditrader, a digital trading platform for agricultural commodities, which helps farmers get additional revenues by selling carbon certificates on the international market.

French-born Arnaud Perrein, vice-president of the Romanian Corn Producers Association with 28 years’ experience in the Romanian agriculture industry, has adopted a set of measures that contribute to the improvement of his cultivated soil, so that it is more productive and profitable. Using conservation agriculture, he cultivates 4,000 hectares of land at Sopema Farm in Ialomita county, in Romania’s most fertile region.

"Currently we only plow 200 ha of the 4,000 we cultivate. We decided to make the transition from traditional to conservation agriculture primarily out of personal beliefs, because we want to leave something good behind for future generations and then because, personally, I am open to experimenting, losing or gaining through agriculture I practice," says Arnaud Perrein.

On the surfaces he works he has hard and clay soil, worked deep, which forced him to do less tillage. However, he also has areas with very light, sandy lands, where he encounters problems due to wind erosion. This forced him to change the way he is farming, adopting new techniques.

“We do conservation agriculture, we evolve on all sides - spraying, paying attention to the fertilizers used and the cultivated varieties, we leave the land as little uncovered between two crops and then we get a complete result of several measures taken. We expect these actions to lead to positive results in the medium and long term. Every year we have better and better productions and we are even better, we earn more per hectare. We hope that the green crops we have will help us in time to develop the qualities of the soil and to cultivate these lands more easily.”

Conservation agriculture is based on five essential principles: crop rotation, reduction of soil disturbances, optimal distribution of residues, green fields throughout the year, and optimized fertility. Crops become more drought tolerant and absorb rainwater more efficiently, which contributes to better nutrient storage and improved soil quality.

The transition to conservation agriculture favors biodiversity, generating a richer biological activity. Moreover, by adopting this type of agriculture, greenhouse gases and CO2e can be stored, and this can be quantified, verified, and transformed into carbon certificates that can bring financial benefits to farmers.