Farmers who cultivate wheat, maize or soy in the large fields are increasingly present in direct planting, in the technique that in French semis direct and in Spanish is called direct planting. To do so, when collecting a crop, immediately sowing another that is complementary to it. For example, as you can see in the photo: next to the wheel of the tractor are the slices of wheat harvested a few months earlier, and among them the green rape plants; the collar has covered the surface of the earth during these months and the machine now cuts or crushes to replant the wheat.

This technique is used by large landowners because they have discovered that erosion has impoverished in a few years the soils that have destroyed all the fauna and flora of their feet after being crushed. Conversely, unburned direct sowing yields a very net economic return: they better maintain the soil balance, throw less herbicides (weeds are harder to produce below the cover), and rape or other legumes are a manure that saves, more because they do not extend them, which overtakes fuel.

Direct planting on the plant layer (Semis Direct sur Couverture Vegetale) is also promoted by aid programmes for poor countries passing through France. Most food-poor countries have severe erosion problems, which have been affected by severe storms after large droughts. Unploughed soils, always covered with green plants or dried leaves, are more resistant to water, have a much less need for irrigation and offer greater profitability to farmers, as well as eliminating laborious work. “Peasant, barely?” Not necessarily.