There is a link in the homepage to a Wikipedia page describing conservaion agriculture.  On this page you will find information about CA in the context of the small scale farmer in sub-Saharan Africa.  It is important to be specific because CA can be applied in a wide range of environments, countries, scales and crops.  The Barney Planter has been designed to be used by 'subsistence' farmers with little or zero mechanisation.

Traditional planting of maize begins by turning over the soil by hand using a heavy hoe called a 'jembe'.  This is slow, hard work that frequently begins after the start of the rainy season when the ground has been softened a little.

This process exposes what moisture is left in the soil, which then evaporates. The loose soil is also subject to erosion by wind and particulaly water.

Seeds are planted by hand along a row using a machete ('panga') to dig a small hole at intervals. This is also a slow process, but provides accurate planting.  Fertiliser can also be added to the hole at this stage but seed 'burn' can occur if the fertiliser dissolves and the solution comes into contact with the seed.  Fertiliser can also be scattered around the surface of the field as a 'top dressing'  but this is wasteful as it also fertilises weeds, does not all benefit the crop, and is washed away during the typically heavy cloud bursts of the tropics.

During these downpours the raindrops impact heavily on the soil surface.  This 'splash erosion' not only further loosens the tilled soil so facilitating erosion, but also compact the soil below the rain drop and scatter soil dust across the surface.  This dust then clogs soil pores, creating a skin.  The skin not only impedes water infiltration but, when dried, causes problems with emerging crops.

These are some of the issues addressed by conservation agriculture.  Unfortunately, there is very little help for small scale farmers who want take up CA as there are few, if any, useful tools they can use. 

 As shown above, traditional methods of planting involve the following problems...

- labour intensive
- time-consuming
- evaporation of soil moisture
- delays in planting owing to dry soil
- excessive fertiliser requirements
- fertiliser wastage
- possible seed burn
- soil erosion
- poor water infiltration