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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost AT lobo.net>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Tillage is tillage
  • Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2007 20:33:13 -0700


Maybe you could explain that last line, since it seems to contradict what
you say about protecting soil structure and biology:
> Of course, to reap these benefits you're going to need to use some
>forms of tillage and cultivation...

I just don't see the need for it. Why the cost and labor to till and
cultivate?

paul tradingpost AT lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 2/2/2007 at 2:19 PM STEVE GILMAN wrote:

>This really isn't so simplistic.
>
> Our northeast farms, including those in Coleman's Maine, were
>initially hacked out of the forest by burning (a la the Native
>Americans) and then with the coming of the white man, by European
>implements and grazing. I saw an early 1900's postcard of the last
>tree standing in southern VT -- all the mountain ranges in the
>distance had been denuded for fuel and potash. Sod saved the day,
>protecting the steep slopes and flatlands alike from further erosion.
>That sod is tough (thankfully) -- and primary tillage is necessary to
>open up the soil, while repeated cultivation is needed to keep it
>open and workable. Tillage and cultivation BOTH work the soil to some
>extent but tillage isn't necessarily more injurious than cultivation.
>On a farm scale, chisel plowing is less deleterious than rotovating,
>for example. They are both injurious to the extent that they destroy
>organic matter and soil aggregation. Modern tractor powered spaders
>are designed to lessen these impacts.
>
> In the no till approaches, mulching is a positive option, on small
>holdings at least. Growing grass and natural herb biostrips between
>beds takes a third of the field out of cultivation but they need to
>be maintained through mowing -- and the beds still have to be dealt
>with. Planting into winter-killed and scalp-killed cover crops
>utilizes an in-place mulch effect, without having to haul in and
>spread outside materials. NEWFARM.org, for one, is refining cover-
>killing machinery for organic growers.
>
> Conventional no till has been around awhile and is touted as a
>superior way of preventing erosion (and saving the planet, even.) The
>chemical farmers just kill cover crops and sod with herbicides and
>plant directly into the dead stubble with heavy-duty planters. But
>here is the rub: Mulch/no till keeps soils cold well into the spring,
>just by the fact that the sun and warmth don't penetrate. Soil temps
>need to be 60 degrees plus to awaken the microbial activity needed to
>mineralize soil nutrients for crop growth. Organic growers are using
>ridge-till, which plants into the top of open raised ridges exposed
>to sun and warmth, with the base of the pyramid-shaped ridges kept
>deep in winter-killed or till-killed mulch.
>
> To get around cold soils the chemical farmers just add synthetic
>Nitrogen fertilizer which boosts the plant directly and bypassing
>microbial activity. Of course they don't like to talk about the
>downsides of the Chem No-Till system. Fully HALF of the soluble
>chemical N is "lost" -- going directly into the ground water (and is
>whisked away by the extensive drainage tile networks into streams,
>waterways and dead zones) or into the atmosphere when the nitrates
>are volatilized into nitrous oxide (N2O) -- a potent greenhouse gas
>that is 296 times more injurious than CO2. Conventional ag is a MAJOR
>contributor to Global Warming. N2O also attacks the ozone in the
>stratosphere, increasing dangerous UV radiation here on earth,
>impacting crops and humans alike.
>
> The basis of organic agriculture is about building soil, crop,
>livestock and human health by building soil organic matter. Adding
>enriched compost is a primary, but limited, method. Soil amendments
>are supplements. A major tool is cover cropping, which increases the
>organic biomass above and below ground (in the rootmass), aerates the
>soil, retrieves and pumps up nutrients from the deeper down soil
>horizons, contributes to building beneficial mycorrhizal fungal mass
>and massive carbon storage in glomalin, provides room and board for
>soil microorganisms and the entire soil foodweb, protecting against
>erosion, etc., etc.
>
> Of course, to reap these benefits you're going to need to use some
>forms of tillage and cultivation...
>
>Steve Gilman
>Ruckytucks Farm
>upstate NY, zone 5
>







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