Positive Effects of Conservation Tillage Essay -- Agriculture Farming

Positive Effects of Conservation Tillage For centuries farmers have used plowing as a tool for weed control, and in some cases to promote plant growth. At first man had used animals to pull plows and other equipment, with the invention of the tractor work that would normally be done with animals could be done more easily and quickly. Although plowing has been a common and widely used tool for managing weed control, there are many negative impacts associated with this method. Conservation tillage is a method where some of crop residues, if not all of crop residues, are left on the surface of the soil. Conservation tillage methods have become popular in many areas around the world, and while many of the effects of conservation tillage are still under research, many farmers have found that it helps to not only protect the health of their fields, but also that it saves both time and money. Research shows that conservation tillage has many beneficial effects such as the reduction of soil compaction, increases in biodiversity, higher crop yields, decreases in erosion, reductions in fuel requirements and other capital inputs for machinery, and up to a seventy percent reduction of preharvest labor. Researchers are not the only ones that are noticing that conservation tillage has a promising future which combines low labor requirements with low erosion rates (Giere, 2002). In America, eighteen percent of crop fields are managed using conservation tillage methods, and in Paraguay ninety percent of fields are managed with conservation tillage methods (Karasov, 2002). Though the percent of conservation tillage in the United States may not be as high as other areas in the world, it is projected that nearly eighty ... ...2004, October). To Plow or Not To Plow: Balancing Slug Populations with Environmental Concerns and Soil Health. Agricultural Research, 16- 17. Durham, S. (2003, March). Drought Survival with Conservation Tillage. Agricultural Research, 22. Giere, J.P., Johnson, K.M., & Perkins, J.H. (1980). A Closer Look at No-Till Farming. Environment, 22(6), 15-20, 37-40 Karasov, C. (2002, February). Spare the Plow, Save the Soil. Environmental Health Perspectives, 22(2), A75 Machado, A.F.L., Jakelaitis, A., Ferrriera, et al.(2005). Population Dynamics of Weeds in No-Tillage and Conventional Crop Systems. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, B40, 119-128. Runion, S.B., Prior, S.A., Reeves, D.W., et al.(2004). Microbial Responses to Wheel Traffic in Conventional and No-Tillage Systems. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 35, 2891-2903.