Since 1969, select farm plots at the University of Illinois have been in continuous no-till. In that time, the measure of organic matter has been boosted three-fold – from about 1 percent to 3.2 percent, without cover crops, according to Mike Plumer, the natural resources management educator at the university Extension. He said that in [...]
In a blog post in Organic Life Style Magazine, the author provoked lots of discussion based on this comment:
While conventional farming typically depletes soil organic matter, organic farming builds it through the use of composted animal manures and cover crops.
One of the responders, Matthew, replied:
There is another form of conventional farming, and that is no-till [...]
Continue reading about Has No-Till Become Popular Enough to Be Called “Conventional?”
If annual ryegrass is part of your rotation now, you will have noticed that - come this time of year - things dry out and crop roots start heading south looking for moisture. Annual ryegrass accommodates that better than in the old days, when conventional tillage would’ve created a layer of compacted soil that roots [...]
Continue reading about Corn and Soybeans Enjoy New Room to Grow with Deeper Roots
Conventional tillage continuously uses the same soil nutrients over and over until the “top” soil is worn out. Farmers must then increase fertilizer applications to make up for what is depleted in the soil.
Moreover, farmers wanting to break up the natural compaction that occurs with repeated years of tillage, will employ more powerful tractors and [...]
Continue reading about Infiltration - Annual Ryegrass Does Double Duty
Some Midwest soils, like southern Indiana and Illinois, are noted for layers of compaction. Some were laid down millenia ago - glacial till and so forth. More recently, conventional plowing has created another layer of compaction, just below the deepest plow or ripper.
Neither corn nor soybean roots can penetrate those compacted layers. Rather, the roots [...]
Continue reading about It’s in the Roots, well, it starts there anyway.
Over the winter, annual ryegrass roots keep growing, even when the top growth has been dormant for months. In some cases, where farmers have been using annual ryegrass for more than 3 years, the root system can be as deep as 5 feet.
The value for the corn and soybean crops that follow is enormous. Annual [...]
