## 1 Introduction  
In a growing global population scenario, climate change, environmental degradation, and increasing resource scarcity mean that ensuring sustainable food and nutrition security requires a significant shift in the agri-food system towards sustainability [1]. Agriculture, forestry, and other land-use activities account for 22% of global anthropogenic carbon emissions [2, 3]. These systems serve dual functions within terrestrial ecosystems, acting both as carbon sources and sinks, underscoring the importance of their effective management for carbon mitigation [4]. In this context, organic farming could represent a considerable opportunity--although not without its challenges--to achieve sustainability. Adopting strategies based on higher or lower reductions in soil disturbance--an essential principle of conservation agriculture--in organic farming enhances soil carbon sequestration and supports compliance with government programs to reduce carbon emissions ([PERSON] and others, 2016; [PERSON] and others, 2017). Either no-tillage or reduced tillage practices maintain and improve the soil organic carbon content and provide additional benefits such as soil moisture conservation and soil erosion mitigation ([PERSON] and others, 2018). Furthermore, reducing the tillage intensity decreases energy consumption and associated carbon dioxide emissions while decreasing labor demand ([PERSON] and others, 2018). For example, no-till systems can reduce energy use by 25% compared to conventional tillage based on deep tillage practices like moldboard plowing or chiseling ([PERSON] and others, 2018). Maintaining vegetation cover, another critical principle of conservation agriculture, offers several environmental benefits. Cover crops support this principle, protect soil from erosion, conserve water, and enhance nutrient availability and soil organic matter content ([PERSON] and others, 2018). Cover crops also mitigate greenhouse gases by capturing carbon and storing it in roots, soil, and above-ground biomass ([PERSON] and others, 2018). In organic farming, cover crops are commonly used as green manures to improve soil fertility and supply nutrients to cash crops ([PERSON] and others, 2018). An alternative management strategy involves terminating cover crops and spontaneous vegetation and leaving their residues as dead mulch on the soil surface. This natural much represents a valuable option in organic weed management ([PERSON] and others, 2018). In a no-till-based practice, the termination can be performed with roller crimpers ([PERSON] and others, 2018). Moreover, flaming can be effectively associated with crimper rolling to speed up cover crop termination and prevent delays in planting the following cash crop ([PERSON] and others, 2018). However, reduced and no-tillage practices, as well as the use of cover crops, have had economic implications for farmers, which must be carefully considered ([PERSON] and others, 2018), compared a tillage management system with no-till systems. Cover crops were sown with a no-till drill and terminated by a roller-crimper in organic tomato cultivation. The authors found that no-till systems incurred higher production costs and obtained lower returns than conventional tillage systems due to lower yields. [PERSON] et al. (1988) observed that using reduced tillage in an organic crop rotation resulted in a 13% decrease in gross revenues and a 6% reduction in annual costs, ultimately maintaining net returns. The economic impacts of cover crops vary significantly, with some systems benefiting from increased profitability, while others do not ([PERSON] and others, 2018; [PERSON] and others, 2018). [PERSON] et al. (2018), comparing farming systems based upon cover cropping to bare soil cultivation systems for organic maize production, observed that cover cropping systems lead to higher production costs (due to seed purchases and field management) that negatively affect their economic performance with respect to bare soil systems. On the contrary, [PERSON] et al.