No-Till and Soil Health
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
To build healthier soils, some growers have found no-till to work well in their operation. But others claim removing tillage as a tool doesn’t work in their production system. Andrew Smith with the Rodale Institute says long-term research indicates that eliminating tillage may not be the end-all be-all for improving soil health.
Smith… “ So from 2008 to 2000–to present, but I probably don't have this year's data in front of me, the no-till plots have our worst soil health indicators. The conventional no-till plots have our worst soil health indicators. Our organic no-till, maybe it's a little bit better in the no-till than the till, but I don't think there's any statistical significance there. So when we look at almost all of our data and this is soil data and economic data, we are not seeing a significant difference between till and no-till both in the conventional and in the organic. In my opinion, I usually say no till with no cover crops is no good. Just simply not tilling the soil is not really a strategy.”
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Smith adds that while tillage itself can negatively impact soil health if misused, he says when paired with crop rotation, it can still play a role in improving overall soil function.
