Pros & Cons of No-Till Farming

 Farming....

You might think of the clip-art pictures with a tractor pulling some sort of implement behind it. A lot of times, those clip-art pictures show the tractor pulling a tillage implement behind it. Is tillage all it's made up to be, or are there other alternatives that may be better? 

As I may have mentioned in articles earlier this spring, I've been experimenting with an alternative growing system called "no-till." It's pretty self-explanatory because the principle behind no-till is exactly that, no tillage (turning/mixing the soil). As a disclaimer, this is my first season trying no-till, and it's said that the full benefits of no-till don't really start to emerge until at least the third growing season. All this article is meant to portray is what my experience has been this first season, and what I like and dislike about the system so far. 

As of 2020, I had about a 10th of an acre that grew green beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers, and sorghum. There is a small patch in the back of the garden that was treated "conventionally" (tilling in the fall). Sorghum and cereal grasses were rotated on this section last year as well. I noticed that the oats that were planted on the tilled plot had a faster seed germination and growth rate that was about double compared to the oats planted on no-till ground. Leaf size and shape was also better than the oats planted in no-till. It's also important to note that both plots had corn, or a close relative to corn (ie sorghum) planted behind it. Next year I hope to compare vegetable crops to see what differences may occur, compared to the differences in grasses. 

A few aspects of no-till that I liked for all the crops that I planted was that no-till drastically reduced water output, and lowered soil temperatures. Combined with drip irrigation, my no-till area only "needed" water 2-3 days (sometimes less) per week. Before no-till, the vegetables were watered 6 days per week, and there would still be signs of plant stress on exceptionally warm days. This year, I rarely ever saw signs of plant stress. Depending on the thickness of the covering on the soil (ex: woodchips, straw), no-till has been shown to lower soil temperature anywhere from 10-20* F. Lowered soil temperature is a benefit in the summer, because it keeps the plant from becoming stressed. 

However, lowered soil temperature was not an added benefit this spring, as the soil was too cold and wet to successfully plant crops like beans and corn in. Eventually the soil dried out enough to where the seeds wouldn't rot before sprouting, but that set the harvest time back by about a month. So, as you can see, a major benefit with no-till also can be the biggest detriment. 

The last benefit that I visibly noticed was that there were very few weeds within the no-till areas. The covering over the top of the soil stops/slows weed growth, and combined with the cover provided by the crops themselves, precious few weeds were able to grow because of the lack of light. Drip-irrigation also plays a huge factor in weed control, since water is being delivered only to the plants that I want to grow. 

I can't wait to see what the results will be next year, and hopefully those results will get better! I did notice some exceptionally large harvests this year compared to years past (like a 1 lb 8 oz tomato, and a 16 lb first bean harvest!). There's always something exciting to learn and discover each day, month, and year when working with plants and animals!