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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] No-till
  • Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2007 20:37:02 -0700


"During an intial interview, several of the farmers that are
participating
in my soil quality research have made a point of differentiating
themselves from farmers that are merely no-till planters... they have told
me that that they are no-till/never-till farmers... not merely no-till
planters... They use no-till systems that include restricted traffic
patterns, appropriate rotations, appropriate variety selection, cover
crops, contour strips... I am analyzing soil from Steve Groffs farm...
cover crops and crop rotation are at least as important to his system as
the use of a no-till drill/planter... A 1980s U of MD mimeo describing
no-till corn production lists the planting of a winter covercrop as one of
the ingredients of no-till production...it doesn't say use a cover crop if
you want to be an environmentalist... it says spring planting into a killed
winter covercrop is part of the no-till weed control, moisture management,
nutrient management system... Healthy soil will perform functions such as
nutrient cycling, bioturbation (biological tillage), suppression of
soilborne pests and diseases, filtration and storage of water, preservation
of biodiversity... that are replaced to varying degrees by mechanical
tillage, pesticides, fertilizers, irrigation... in industrial model
agricultural systems... There are several excellent review articles on the
functions performed by organisms in healthy soil ecosystems... I recommend
"Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning in Soil" by L. Brussard et al. in
Ambio Vol. 26 No. 8 Dec 1997. and "Let the soil work for us" by E.T. Elliot
and D.C. Coleman in Ecological Bulletins, No. 39 I also recommend the
articles contained within Dr. Elaine Inghams web site." -- (Joel Gruver, U
of MD, Soil quality research)


paul tradingpost@lobo.net






  • [Livingontheland] No-till, TradingPostPaul, 02/07/2007

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