To Till or Not To Till

The Why of No-till

Much of the interest in no-till farming comes from a desire to avoid the negative effects of tillage. So, before talking about how to do no-till, we should talk about why people want to go no-till in the first place. Negatives associated with tillage include soil compaction, stirring up weed seeds, burning up organic matter, and taking a lot of time and equipment. Positives of good no-till systems include carbon sequestration, labor savings, increasing soil life and diversity (including the important fungal component of the soil), and increasing the water-holding capacity of the soil.

The How of No-till

Most no-till systems break down into a few broad categories of systems to prepare land without tillage. We will look at those systems, including the use of organic mulches grown in place (the roller-crimper method), deep organic mulches applied to the soil, and the use of non-organic mulches to smother weeds before planting (occultation and solarization). Most farms use more than one of these methods to achieve productivity without tillage, come to this session to talk about the pros and cons of each in order to come up with a mix to try on your farm.

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