Lyudmila Orlova, pioneer of soil conservation agriculture in Russia: healthy soils are the source of human health

Soils are not just one of agricultural inputs. Now, when “soil erosion is occurring, and soil degradation is underway, the quality of products produced in the agricultural sector is suffering, which results in damage to human health,” Lyudmila Orlova, President of the National Movement for Conservation Agriculture non-profit partnership, said in an exclusive interview for the website of the FAO Moscow Office.

“It is really simple. If we eat foods obtained from healthy soil, people will get sick less, and there will be no need to invest so much in pharmacology,” Lyudmila Orlova highlighted (who, incidentally, received her first degree in medicine – ed. note).

- How relevant is the theme of conservation agriculture in comparison to other pressing issues of the agricultural sector?

- Every year, 2 million hectares of agricultural lands worldwide lose their original productivity. Russia is no exception. In Russia, 30% of land is already subject to erosion and 60% is degraded. The first anthropogenic desert has appeared in Kalmykia. Monitoring has shown that desertification is happening in 35 regions of the Russian Federation. This is a wake-up call!

- Are there no research institutions working on this problem?

- There are, but there is no state programme that would spell out strategic objectives and methods for achieving them. We do not have a law on soil conservation. Even the word “soil” itself has disappeared from official documents. It is unclear on what grounds, but in many government documents the concept of “soil” was replaced by “land”. But these are different things. And this “disappearance” happened in the country where soil science was born, from where the name of its founder Vasily Dokuchaev reverberated across the world.

- Is it possible to solve the problem of soil degradation at the microlevel? On the modest scale of one individual farm?

- In every region of our country there is a farm that implements soil conservation methods. Against all odds, without any state support.

- High-ranking officials at the Ministry of Agriculture claimed that a quarter or more of the nearly 40 million hectares of unused agricultural land could be converted back to farmlands. Does it solve the problem or not?

- Yes, there is a state programme for devoting 13.2 million hectares of unused land to agriculture and maintaining ​​at least 3.6 million hectares of reclaimed soils in agriculture. However, in my opinion, the goal is also to preserve what has already been introduced into agricultural use. Our attitude to the existing industry capacities cannot be uncaring. But this requires an agricultural technology policy.

- What technology should be talked about above all else?

- It is a zero tillage system known as No-Till (from “no tillage” in English). As is known, tillage leads to wind and water erosion, it destroys the soil structure and soil biota. In addition, chemical additives have lost the effect of increasing yields. One kilogram of NPK mineral fertilizers applied to soil used to produce a 28 kg increase in grain yield, and now it is only 4–5 kg.

What do we propose instead of tillage? The organic residues left after harvesting are reduced to pieces and turned into mulch, which is evenly distributed over the surface of the field.

At the Field Day, after listening to our discussions and debates about the feasibility of this technology, a scientist from Argentina was quite surprised and informed the audience that in his country the method had already been used for 30 years. According to FAO statistics, this technology has been introduced on 210 million hectares in different soil and climate zones worldwide.

- Are there any enthusiasts among our fellow citizens who use No-Till?

- There are farms introducing No-Till in every region. Moreover, we are talking about its use at agricultural enterprises with the areas from 1000 hectares to 200 thousand hectares. Mindful farmers understand that in the end, they will make gains.

On the national scale, the introduction of this technology will mean that the number of ploughs will reduce, and they will only be required for growing vegetables, and the fleet of tractors and cultivators will also decrease. However, the demand for seeders for direct seeding will increase, since cultivated agricultural crops will need to be treated and, in particular, sprayed more. According to our calculations, the implementation of soil conservation technologies will require 330−340 billion roubles in investments in the creation of relevant agricultural machinery.

- Can you prove that these investments will pay off?

- Indeed. The profitability of any farm ultimately increases. And we cannot forget about the environmental aspect. When carbon is deposited in soil, emissions decrease. The carbon footprint is reduced. Today agricultural products with a low carbon footprint are in demand. This way, we will be able to support the national strategy for increasing the export of agricultural raw materials and finished products.

Moreover, we are conducting a climate project and are now verifying our prognostic analysis. It turns out that in theory, we can sell carbon units and earn 25−30 million roubles from every 1.5 thousand hectares. Thus, the transition to conservation agriculture technologies makes sense in terms of both the economy and the environment.

- Is it possible to make this transition without trained personnel understanding, as Suvorov put it, “their manoeuvre”?

- It is impossible. In the near future, we will inevitably switch to managing plant soil microbiology. We have already created the first Russian agricultural carbon site based on soil conservation technologies in the Samara region.

Samara State University conducts interdisciplinary research, and scientists who have been working in this area for many years are surprised to discover the biodiversity in soil. The task of tomorrow is to balance the presence of aggressive pathogenic microbes and commensal, human-friendly microbes in soil and to create its own microbiome for every farmland.

- This is the ultimate long-term goal. But what can and should be done right now?

- We need to talk about the potential of soils and the benefits of innovative technologies across all levels. We need to explain why it is important to switch to low-emission conservation methods. Such a transformation of agrifood systems is provided for by 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted by the UN General Assembly. Russia adopted them and committed to promoting the achievement of the SDGs. I think that today we need some kind of outreach aimed at politicians and the business.

BACKGROUND

Lyudmila Orlova is also the Chief Editor of the Conservation Agriculture journal, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, member of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Co-Chair of the Russian–German Agricultural Committee from the Russian side, Chair of the  General Meeting of Founders of the Agricultural Training Fund, member of the German–Russian Forum, Head of  Eurotechnica GPS company, member of the Board of Directors of the Rosagromash Machinery Association, participant of the Petersburg Dialogue Forum Coordinating Committee, and Vice President of NUBE (National Union of Bioenergetics).

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The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).