Farming practice, also known as zero tillage. The farmer does not plough the field (after harvest and/or before sowing), or uses a different type of plough[1] that does not dig up and turn over (rotates) the soil-layers as much as conventional ploughing will cause.
Thought to be a more sustainable practice because it can reduce emissions and prevent erosion, depletion of water (humidity) and nutrients (nitrogen and carbon) from the soil in the field. And therefore considered to increase yield and to prevent eutrophication of surrounding ditches and water-ways.
Description
There are several different modified versions of No-till farming. They are all generally thought to be more appropriate and profitable[2][3] if performed correctly.
Less ploughing of the field are considered to reduce labour,[4] fuel,[5] irrigation and machinery costs. Can increase yield of the crops and slightly reduce need for fertilizers.
Reasons
- Ploughing are thought to increase evaporation, erosion and making valuable nutrients and humidity in the soil be released and dispersed into the air. So the farmer could skip the ploughing completely, or use a carefully chosen ploughing method[6] that does not erupt the layers that is full of nutrients and organic material.
Ploughing was originally developed to chop up residue from the harvest and to prevent or destroy weeds growing (by cutting off the root systems)
Side-effects
- For farms with certain soil types there could arise a need for special sowing equipment, because the top-layer of the soil can become harder, more compact and less penetrable than it would have been if ploughed conventionally.
Other practices that can complement no-till farming:
- wikipedia:Crop rotation
- Avoid large scale and Monoculture farming
- Push pull farming[7]
Notes
- ↑ wikipedia:Plough#Chisel_plough
- ↑ D.L. Beck, J.L. Miller, and M.P. Hagny "Successful No-Till on the Central and Northern Plains " http://www.dakotalakes.com/Publications/asa10_98.pdf
- ↑ http://www.notill.org/KnowledgeBase/03_economics_derpsch.pdf Economics of No-till farming. Experiences from Latin America}}
- ↑ Time savings from no-till are the result of fewer passes over a field being needed and/or less time for each pass.
- ↑ http://ecat.sc.egov.usda.gov/Fuel.aspx
- ↑ wikipedia:Plough#Chisel_plough
- ↑ Push pull farming explained
Further reading
Interwiki links
External links
- www.greatplainsmfg.com
- www.farmshow.com (some equipment used)