French farmer Nicolas Denieul holds a pig on November 30, 2015 next to his breeding of 350 Large White sows, in Piace, north-western France. Pigs are fed by farm crops, practicing rational agriculuture, namely zero tillage seeding directly or indirectly on a surface of 310 hectares operated GAEC (Groupement Agricole d'Exploitation en Commun). 5000 French farmers, representing 5% of them have abandoned the plow in favor of direct or indirect planting. The farmer then simply drop the seeds in a thin layer of freshly dug earth. No more furrows plows, the long hours of tractors up to the work of earthworms which absorb and digest dead plants before the green manure spread in the rest of the soil. The organic matter content of soils operated by Nicolas Denieul happened in 10 years from 1.5 to 3. / AFP / JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER (Photo credit should read JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images)
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AFP JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER