The rate of change from conventional plough-based agriculture to more conservation-oriented soil management systems has varied widely across the globe. For instance, while Conservation Agriculture is well established in the Americas , the uptake in Europe has, until recently, been much slower.

However, increasing numbers of European farmers are adopting some or all of the principles of Conservation Agriculture. Recent European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF) estimates suggest that the percentage of agricultural land under conservation tillage in the 3 SOWAP countries, Belgium , Hungary and UK , is 17%, 11% and 46%, respectively.

Uptake of conservation tillage in Europe has mainly been driven by the need to reduce production costs. However, conservation tillage can also deliver a range of environmental benefits that are increasingly being sought by society. A recent review (Holland, 2003), listed the primary environmental benefits of conservation tillage as reduced water runoff and soil erosion, increased carbon sequestration, a richer soil biota, improved food supplies for birds.

The increasing emphasis that the EU Commission and member states are placing on environmental protection, e.g. Water Framework Directive and the proposed Soil Framework Directive, may well encourage/necessitate further adoption of these approaches by farmers, in order to deliver the required outcomes.

Choosing how to manage the soil is just one of the many decisions that farmers need to make during the complex process that is crop production. Changes in the method of soil management can often have knock-on effects on other parts of the farming system and on overall costs. Examples of these effects, sometimes real and sometimes perceived, are increased grass weed problems and slug infestation. In the past some of these have hindered either the uptake of conservation tillage or forced farmers to abandon the practice after only a short time. Other important barriers to adoption include the high cost and suitability of equipment in some situations.

Using project expertise and the knowledge of local farmers to assess the state of the soil, and other agronomic challenges, SOWAP aims to explore the relationship between the needs and costs of crop production and environmental impact.