«A lot of the things we're talking about are things that you should be doing for the environment as well as things that are profitable for the farmer, including increasing efficiency and
reducing tillage.»
Monitoring for pests and diseases; monitoring water use; planting cover crops; and
reducing tillage are all associated with significant cost savings.
However, options for
reducing tillage in the mid-Atlantic region have been identified and tried, including: (1) rotating annual grain crops with perennial forages; (2) decreasing depth and degree of soil inversion (e.g. chisel... Continued
After visiting the Institute, the group traveled to Penn State University's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center near State College, PA to learn about the Cover Crop Cocktails project and
Reduced Tillage Organic Systems Experiment.
Utilization of Pelletized Starter Fertilizers in Cover Crop - Based,
Reduced Tillage Organic Corn Production Gladis Zinati1, a *, Rachel Atwell2, b, Steven Mirsky3, c, Chris Reberg - Horton4, b, Rae Moore5, a, and Jeff Moyer6, a 1Associate Research Scientist, 2Graduate Student, 3Research Ecologist, 4Associate Professor, 5Research Technician, and 6Executive Director... Continued
The rising interest in no - tillage production practices among organic farmers has recently created considerable advancement in the development of a cover crop - based,
reduced tillage organic corn and soybean production.
Utilizing cover crop mulches to
reduce tillage in organic systems in the southeastern USA.
Koopmans, Chris; Rietberg, P.I. and Burgt, G.J.H.M. (2014) Calibration and adaptation of the NDICEA model to
reduced tillage systems: Final - report of the Tilman CORE Organic II project.
Likewise,
reduced tillage, cover crops, intensified cropping systems, and other conservation practices are known to build the soil long - term.
For example, the organic matter can be balanced by
reduced tillage practices; by double cropping, where two crop varieties are planted in succession in the same growing season; and by the use of cover crops that replenish the soil.
Through
reduced tillage in farming — no - till being the prime example — and systems using cover crops and residue, those are major ways agriculture can reduce the emission of greenhouse gases because carbon dioxide is being taken up by the plant materials and stored in the soil.
The panel recommended, for example, that the U.S. Geological Survey investigate the impact that
reduced tillage has had on water quality.
«Soil microbes flourish with
reduced tillage.»
Among the possible approaches:
reduced tillage, year - round livestock forage and compost application.
Among the other practices, ley cropping systems and cover crops gave better performances than straw incorporation and
reduced tillage.
Not exact matches
Sustainable agricultural strategies comprising recycling of organic matter, tightening internal nutrient cycles, and low - or no -
tillage practices may rebuild organic matter levels and
reduce losses from the system.
In addition, however, agriculture's use of fossil energy could be
reduced as a mitigation step, Rice said: «When we make agriculture more efficient and use less
tillage, we're also using less energy.
They have other benefits, such as
reducing the need for plowing and other soil
tillage — which is costly in terms of energy use and may contribute to soil erosion.
When spring thaw emissions were combined with growing season emissions, the conventional
tillage system actually had higher total nitrous oxide emissions than the zero till system.We suggest that this type of experiment (full year emission measurements) be repeated with deep banding of N fertilizer, which would be expected to further
reduce emissions from zero till systems.
However, N2O emissions from deep placement of N were obtained after other rainfall events, all indicating that deep placement
reduced N2O emissions from zero till to levels as low as from N fertilizer incorporated in the surface layer in conventional
tillage.
Technologies such as hydroponics or organoponics, drip irrigation, zero
tillage etc. substantially
reduce water needs and health risks and are very interesting for the urban environment and can indeed be found in many cities.
«Changing from full
tillage to no
tillage reduces greenhouse gas emissions in several ways,» explained Dan Fraleigh, chief operating officer of Carbonzero, a program partner and industry leader in measurable and verified emission reductions and solutions.
Soil management techniques — which include
reducing soil
tillage and applying biochar — have the potential to remove up to eight gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere every year.
Minimum
tillage with biological nutrient recycling, as opposed to plowing and chemical fertilizers, could sequester 0.4 — 1.2 GtC / year [176] while conserving water in soils, building agricultural resilience to climate change, and increasing productivity especially in smallholder rain - fed agriculture, thereby
reducing expansion of agriculture into forested ecosystems [177]--[178].
No - till provides measurable improvements over traditional
tillage, by
reducing carbon emissions (CO2 or greenhouse gases).
Crop Sequencing - rotation,
tillage, seed management, chemical use, crop growth habits, seeding dates, seeding rates and efficient use of resources to
reduce weed pest and disease to non-economic thresholds.
The United States — which over the last two decades retired one tenth of its cropland, most of it highly erodible, and shifted to conservation
tillage practices — has
reduced soil erosion by 40 percent.
In addition to
reducing erosion, this practice retains water, raises soil carbon content, and greatly
reduces energy use for
tillage.
Third, soil carbon sequestration aims to increase soil carbon stocks through land management practices such as
reducing agricultural
tillage, planting more deeply - rooted species, and incorporating relatively persistent compounds (e.g., biochar) into soil for long - term storage.