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No-till farming (sometimes called zero tillage) is a way of growing crops from year to year without disturbing the soil through tillage.

Contents 1 Background 2 Advantages 2.1 Effects on soil 2.2 Preserving archaeological relics 3 Disadvantages 3.1 Yield 3.2 Equipment 3.3 Chemicals 3.4 Erosion 3.5 Artifact recovery 4 Potential 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading

[edit] Background

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Producing crops usually involves regular tilling that agitates the soil in various ways, usually with tractor-drawn implements. Tilling is used to remove weeds, mix in soil amendments like fertilizers, shape the soil into rows for crop plants and furrows for irrigation, and prepare the surface for seeding. This can lead to unfavorable effects, like soil compaction; loss of organic matter; degradation of soil aggregates; death or disruption of soil microbes including mycorrhiza, arthropods, and earthworms; and soil erosion where topsoil is blown or washed away. No-till farming thus avoids these unfavorable effects by reducing or excluding the use of conventional tillage.

There is evidence^{[citation needed]} that repeated tillage destroys the soil resource base and causes adverse environmental impacts. Tillage degrades the fertility of soils, causes air and water pollution, intensifies drought stress, consumes fuel, and contributes to global warming^[1]. Today, farmers are expected to produce food in ever greater quantities. This is becoming more difficult to do in view of declining soil quality, which can be caused by soil tillage^{[citation needed]}. It is becoming well known that no-till is an effective technique to reduce the degradation of soil. With this way of farming, crop residues or other organic amenities are retained on the soil surface and sowing/fertilizing is done with minimal soil disturbance.

A major obstacle that farmers often face with change to continuous no-till is overcoming yield-limiting factors during the transition years, that is, the first years of no-till following a history of intensive conventional tillage.^{[citation needed]} These factors are often poorly understood and may be biologically-driven. Some of the problems involve residue management and increased weed and disease infestations. Farmer experience seems to indicate that many problems during the transition are temporary and become less important as the no-till system matures and equilibriates.^{[citation needed]} The judicious use of crop rotations, cover crops and same soil disturbance may help reduce agronomic risks during the transition years. Farmers switching to continuous no-till must often seek new knowledge and develop new skills and techniques in order to achieve success with this different way of farming. Answers to these questions are urgently needed to provide strategies for promoting no-till as a way to enhance agricultural sustainability for future generations.

[edit] Advantages

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[edit] Effects on soil

In no-till farming the soil is left intact and crop residue is left on the field. Therefore, soil layers, and in turn soil biota, are conserved in their natural state. Variations of the conservation tillage method involve some working of the soil with attention paid to keeping soil compaction and carbon loss at a minimum. These variations include reduced tillage, e.g. strip-till, in which small strips may be plowed to allow space for planting seeds. As defined by the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service strip-tillage should till no more than 1/4 of the field area. Strip-tillage is primarily used in areas where the soil profile contains a natural hard pan that creates a barrier preventing plant roots from moving deeper into the profile to access water and nutrients. Strip-tillage also creates a more suitable seed bed for crops where the harvestable portion is produced below the surface, such as peanuts. Other terms, such as incomplete tillage and minimal tillage may be used. This is especially important for small farms with grain crops to use this method.

No-till has carbon sequestration potential through storage of soil organic matter in the soil of crop fields ^[2]. Tilled by machinery, the soil layers invert, air mixes in, and soil microbial activity dramatically increases over baseline levels. The result is that soil organic matter is broken down much more rapidly, and carbon is lost from the soil into the atmosphere. This, in addition to the emissions from the farm equipment itself, increases carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

Cropland soils are ideal for use as a carbon sink, since it has been depleted of carbon in most areas. Conventional farming practices that rely on tillage have removed carbon from the soil ecosystem by removing crop residues such as left over corn stalks, and through the addition of chemical fertilizers which have the above mentioned effects on soil microbes.

By reducing tillage, leaving crop residues to decompose where they lie, and growing winter cover crops such as grains, alfalfa, or crimson clover, field carbon loss can be slowed and eventually reversed.

However, newer research shows that no-till may not improve carbon sequestration, as preliminary research did not sample soil deep enough to measure the soil carbon flux completely^[3].

Other benefits of no-till include increasing soil quality (soil function), protecting the soil from erosion, evaporation of water, and structural breakdown. Crop residues left intact help both natural precipitation and irrigation water infiltrate the soil where it can be used. The crop residue left on the soil surface also limits evaporation, conserving water for plant growth. A reduction in tillage passes helps prevent the compaction of soil.

Less tillage of the soil reduces labor and related fuel and machinery costs. Less soil plowing means less airborne dust, which is a serious pollutant in some agricultural areas. No-till fields often have more beneficial insects and annelids, a higher microbial content, and a greater amount of soil organic material. As sustainable agriculture becomes more socially popular, monetary grants and awards are becoming readily available to farmers who practice conservation tillage. Some large energy corporations which are among the greatest generators of fossil-fuel-related pollution are willing to purchase carbon credits to encourage farmers to engage in conservation tillage. The farmers' land essentially becomes a carbon sink for the power generators' emissions. This helps the farmer in several ways, and it helps the energy companies meet demands for reduction of pollution.

[edit] Preserving archaeological relics

Tilling regularly damages ancient structures under the soil such as long barrows. In the UK, half of the long barrows in Gloucestershire and almost all the burial mounds in Essex have been damaged. According to English Heritage modern tillage techniques have done as much damage in the last 6 decades as traditional tilling did in the 6 centuries. By using no-till methods these structures can be preserved and can be properly investigated instead of being destroyed. ^[4]

[edit] Disadvantages

[edit] Yield

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Yields are often immediately impacted negatively by inexperienced no-till farmers. A combination of technique, equipment, pesticides, crop rotation, fertilization, and irrigation has to be found which is optimal for the particular native conditions. However, dropping the need to till, and organize the soil into rows and drainage ditches is often cited as increasing profit by reducing costs and labor, even with an initial diminished yield.

Certain crops, like corn, do not tolerate the increased competition in early life well, and are not suitable for complete no-till agriculture. These types of plants are currently grown most successfully in a hybrid fashion by cultivating 7-inch-wide strips of fertilized bare soil spaced out with no-till mowed areas. This combines most of the environmental and labor benefits of no-till agriculture with very close to conventional corn cultivation.

Another problem that growers face is that in the spring the soil will take longer to warm and dry, which may stall planting to a less ideal future date. One reason why the soil is slower to dry is that the field absorbs less solar energy as the residue covering the soil is a much lighter colour than the black soil which would be exposed in conventional tillage.

With no-till, residue from the previous years crops lie on the surface of the field, has a high chance of harbouring pathogens.^{[citation needed]} This will lead to a higher level of disease in the crop than that of a intensively tilled field.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Equipment

The primary disadvantage of no-till farming is the need for specialized seeding equipment designed to plant seeds into undisturbed soil and crop residues. Often, the combination of machinery has to be custom-tailored to the condition of the native soil. However, today many types of no-till seeding equipment are readily available.

[edit] Chemicals

One of the purposes of tilling is to remove weeds. No-till farming does change weed composition drastically. Faster growing weeds may no longer be a problem in the face of increased competition, but shrubs and trees may begin to grow eventually.

Some farmers attack this problem with a “burn-down” herbicide such as Glyphosate in lieu of tillage for seedbed preparation, and because of this, no-till is often associated with increased chemical use in comparison to traditional tillage based methods of crop production.

Crop rotation is also more important in no-till farming, as soil conditions change, and some no-till farmers utilize a wide variety of crop cycles to exploit their particular soil condition at the time and their weed situation at the time for maximum yields.

[edit] Erosion

Soil erosion is a major problem, especially in the long-term. While much less soil is displaced, drainage gulleys that do form get deeper every year instead of disappearing. This may necessitate either sod drainways or permanent drainways in extreme circumstances. Because no-till farming often causes a slight increase in soil bulk density, there is a misconception that periodic tillage is necessary to “fluff” the soil back up. There are millions of acres of land that have been no-tilled for over 20 years where water infiltration, biologic activity, soil aggregate stability, and productivity have all increased well beyond nearby traditionally tilled land. No-till farming mimics the natural conditions under which most soils formed more so than any other method of farming in that the soil is left undisturbed except to place seeds in a position to germinate.

[edit] Artifact recovery

Prior to no-till farming's rise in popularity, the annual tilling of the soil often exposed arrowheads and other artifacts. Other artifacts include bullets, medals, and buttons, coins and other metal items from destroyed houses and barns.

[edit] Potential

Research by both institutions and farmers continues into developing organic no-till farming methods that utilize the rolling/crimping of cover crops and diverse crop rotations to suppress weeds, insects, and diseases. Current organic farming methods often rely on tillage to control these pests at the expense of soil quality. The marriage of no-till and organic has the potential to produce both the healthiest food and the healthiest soil at the same time.

[edit] See also

• Conservation tillage Systems
• Strip-till
• Permaculture
• Masanobu Fukuoka
• Do Nothing Farming
• ICARDA

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Wright, Sylvia. "Paydirt." UC Davis Magazine Winter 2006, pp 24-27.
• Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations (Hardcover), by David R. Montgomery, 295 pages, University of California Press; 1 edition (May 14, 2007) ISBN 978-0520248700