The topic that interested me over the past couple of modules is tilling. Tilling is a technique used to place the soil in the best possible configuration for the success of crops and ensure a level soil surface. The amount of tillage required varies depending on the region. Tilling also accomplishes other goals such as reducing the clod size of soil, removing pests, mixing fertilizer, and controlling weeds. Despite these advantages, the pitfalls of tilling the soils greatly outweigh the benefits.
Tilling does a lot to the land and effects both the crop system and the ecosystems surrounding the area. First, tilling the soil promotes erosion each time the soil is tilled, the soil particle size decreases. The smaller particles are more easily blown away by wind and washed away by rain as there is less aggregation. This increases the amount f fertilizer necessary and as we’ve learned increases the amount of damaging run-off that affects the surrounding water and nutrient supplies. Next, tilling also promotes the loss of nitrogen in the soil. The top layer of the soil is turned over and exposes beneficial organisms and soil to sunlight, inhibiting the incorporation of the nitrogen that they produce into the soil. This also causes an increase in fertilizers necessary to make up for the loss of nitrogen and increases run-off. Also, tilling creates hardpan. Hardpan is a term that describes compacted soil. If the soil is too tightly compacted, there will be no pathways for the transport of nutrients, water, or the development of root systems. The smaller particles work their way down the layers of soil after tilling for a long time and begin to compact, causing a layer of unpenetrable solid that is very expensive to deal with. Tilling itself is also very expensive considering labor costs, machinery costs, and cost of fuel necessary for the technique to occur.
Based on the effects tilling has on the crop systems as well as the surrounding systems, there have been solutions proposed to reducing the amount of tillage. A no till system no only reduces cost, but also leaves more nutrients and beneficial organisms in the soil that will, in the long term, create a better environment. The control weeds and pests, the introduction of beneficiaries are a good alternative to tilling. A no till system will also reduce soil erosion, increase the amount of organic matter and improve water infiltration. Other alternatives such as strip-tilling are a good alternative as well. If tilling is necessary, this method does essentially the same thing, but turns over much less biomass than a typical till would. Strip-tilling combines the soil drying and warming advantages found in traditional ground-working with the soil protection benefits of no-till practices. In this method, only the soil that contains the seed row is disturbed during planting. The rest of the soil is left with the previous crop to develop more organic matter and improve the soil health at the same time as essentially tilling the land.
The solutions to tilling such as no-till and strip-till methods should be practiced by most if not all farmers. Tilling increases soil erosion, promotes nutrient loss and creates hardpan. These alternatives take more time, but can create the same benefits as tilling without the downfalls. Moving to theses systems will decrease run-off and create more nutrient dense crop systems making them techniques that should totally replace tilling.
Sources:
http://www.agprofessional.com/resource-centers/strip-tillage/soil-health/news/Alternative-tilling-methods-offer-new-planting-ideas-268273812.html
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