Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>]

Apart from size (gardening or farming), the most significant differentiation 
that ought to be made is whether it’s chemical no-till or organic.  When 
people talk about 35 millions acres under no-till cultivation in the US, I 
understand this to mean chemical no-till.  There are more than 100,000 tons 
of RoundUp being dumped in the ground by no-till farmers every year.

Dieter


--- On Fri, 6/18/10, Greg Baka <g_baka2002@yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Greg Baka <g_baka2002@yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Livingontheland] on Logsdon and the many versions of no-till
> To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Friday, June 18, 2010, 12:33 PM
> One of valuable things about Gene
> Logsdon's article on "No-Till" was that it points out that
> term is being applied to a very wide continuum of
> practices.
> 
> The continuum ranges from:
> - Gardeners who keep a thick layer of mulch over their
> undisturbed soil...
> - Farmers who plant straight into a living tangle of ground
> cover...
> - Farmers who disc in green manure before broadcasting or
> drilling...
> - Farmers who till and mix the top few inches of soil and
> crop residue...
> - Farmers who use every conventional row crop operation
> imaginable EXCEPT turning the soil with a mold board plow
> 
> So perhaps is he pointing out to us that "no-till" has
> become a term that is so widely used that it has begun to
> lose it's meaning? Like "green" and "organic" and "natural"
> 
> Maybe the term "no-till" no needs qualifiers to tell where
> it falls on the continuum?
> * The farmers that Gene Logsdon describe from his area seem
> to be following "Industrial Ag No-Till". 
> * In my flat row-crop garden that has never been plowed or
> rototilled - but is cultivated and weeded with a wheel hoe
> and a hand hoe - I am using "Cultivated Garden No-Till"
> * the previous poster who plants straight into the living
> ground cover is using "Intact Sod No-Till" or perhaps "Pure
> No-Till"?
> 
> Moving away from a heavy plowing or rototilling habit is a
> good thing, some just move farther than others before they
> stop, practice their new method, and hopefully later further
> across the continuum to whatever true no-till is. Gene's
> article reminds us that many farmers haven't been moving
> very fast and are maybe getting a bit too settled where they
> are on the continuum.
> 
> Greg in MO
> 
> 
> 
> 
>       
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