ConclusionsMexico’s predominantly rain-fed mixed systems often integratemaize production with livestock – yet suffer from soil degrada-tion, low economic profitability and competing demands for maizestover. Improved land management practices such as CA rely onretaining stover to ensure soil cover – but unless the practical andeconomic constraints of stover use in mixed systems receive ade-quate attention, farmers are likely to remain reluctant to adopt.Indeed, the demand for stover as livestock feed is now increas-ingly recognized as a major constraint to farmers’ retention ofcrop residues in Mexico. One promising option is the use of partialstover