Conservation Agriculture operates on three basic principles which are

1.Disturb the soil as little as possible. The ideal is to plant direct into the soil, without hoeing or ploughing. Tillage is reduced to ripping planting lines or making holes for planting with a hoe.

2.Keep the soil covered as much as possible. Mulch, special cover crops and/or crop residues left on the field protect the soil from erosion and limit weed growth throughout the year. This is opposed to conventional farming practices, whereby farmers remove, burn crop residues or mixes them into the soil with a plough or hoe. As a consequence, the soil is left bare, so it is easily washed away by rain, or is blown away by the wind.

3.Mix and rotate crops. Planting of the same crop each season - as sometimes practiced in conventional farming is minimized by planting the right mix of crops in the same field, and rotating crops from season to season. This allows a break down of survival and multiplication cycles of pests, diseases and weeds resulting in higher yields and maintenance of soil fertility.