Reply to Sumberg et al.

摘要

We reassert our claim made in an earlier Commentary that Conservation Agriculture (CA) and the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) are providing considerable environmental and socio-economic benefits to large and growing numbers of practising farmers. CA helps to reduce soil degradation, increase and sustain yields, and sequester carbon. SRI practices reduce water use and methane emissions, and provided a world record rice yield of 21.16 tons/ha (dry weight) in Bihar state, India in 2011-12. We repeat our invitation for geographers to carry out field research on CA and SRI to provide a better understanding of how these practices relate to specific physical, socio-political and economic environments.