DMC has short- to medium-term effects with respect to halting erosion, increasing soil fertility, stabilizing or even increasing yields, even on infertile wastelands, while also reducing fuel consumption. This innovation is based on three concepts that apply in the field, i.e. no tillage, permanent plant cover, and relevant crop sequences or rotations associated with cover plants.

In most of the situation a medium term process is required to integrate these three principles; smallholders need to adapt some of the new technologies to suit their specific conditions, as well as to improve their technical skills and to overcome others constraints (access to credit, to specific equipment...). DMC systems represents the main goal, however an iterative approach is often necessary in generating new systems and making adoption realistic.

First steps of no-till systems - without a permanent soil cover - can not be compare to DMC systems. It is often a misunderstanding in talking about DMC but never experiencing the full benefits of these systems (integrated weeds and pests management, recycling nutrients leached deep into the soil, improving soil organic content and water use efficiency...). This concern for accuracy is crucial in order to avoid frequent mistakes and errors commonly committed by a lot of stakeholders in the field of research and development. Using the term DMC to systematically designate any system of zero cultivation is detrimental not only to scientific and technical quality rigorously developed but also detrimental to their strong reputation and their dissemination. Systems based on no-till have a low productivity and most of these systems does not express the powerful functions that characterize the DMC giving them their exceptional performance (Séguy and Bouzinac, 2008).

DMC is the cornerstone of the holistic approach due to the emergence of interesting ecosystemic properties and the integration of scales (from soil aggregate to landscape unit management). This integration in a systemic approach is essential for a precise understanding of the dynamics of change. These scales combine the main objects of study impacted by climate and anthropogenic factors (Séguy and Bouzinac, 2008):

• The village, where the agricultural production is generated and the management of surrounding areas (forests, pastureland for animals), is the main location for the dissemination of innovative systems, structuring space and social organization (groups producers).
• Landscape units which integrate multiple flows (water, biomass transfer, labor, goods and services ...) and it is at that level that the environmental impacts of human intervention (indicators of sustainability, environmental economics) are considered.
• Field, with the characterization of the processes that underlie the sustainability of the systems generated.

These innovative systems, and the resulting integration of scales, are the major source of technical and scientific progress.

• Benefits (2/11)
• DMC at a glance (0/7)
• DMC systems (0/5)
• Environmental issues (3/11)
• Key principles (0/4)