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  • From: Dan Conine <dconine@bertramwireless.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] on Logsdon and the many versions of no-till
  • Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2010 13:48:54 -0500

Thanks for the good points, Greg.
I think we need to be precise in our terminology as to what is going on in order to avoid battles over semantics.
There are already a few terms in use, but they are being used lazily and improperly. This doesn't help Logsdon's article or the farmers who are trying to find their place ecologically.

One that should be added is "ridge-till", which is tilling narrow strips and precisely following those strips with the planters and cultivators, leaving undisturbed sod between the rows.

Dan C.
Belgium, WI
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, 4:33 AM

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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