Tillage Practices

In the area of agriculture, the profession of farming, and the success of farming, tillage (or the lack thereof in the case of no-till) plays a big part. The advent of high-yielding seed genetics that bring with it more crop residue makes the case for tillage to control the high levels of trash and stalk residue produced by the high yielding plant.

Too, with the level of potential of the modern genetics to produce huge yield makes the case for bigger equipment to handle the grain. Grain carts, which help increase efficiency, create compaction along with the combine. Ground that gets driven on will be compacted to some extent. Thus, the case for tillage, which can break up the soil and reduce compaction, can be made.

These two factors are two big reasons behind why farmer's will use full-width tillage (conventional till) on their farm. Many farmers use this system of tillage. For some, it works. For others, maybe their ground is not suited to conduct tillage on the full field. This is where practices like strip tillage and no till can be useful for farmers and their specific operations.

With conventional tillage, several things may be used. First, in the fall, in preparation for the next year's crop, a chisel plow and/or a disk or vertical tillage tool may be used, and in the spring, a soil finisher or cultivator and/or a disk or vertical tillage may be used in preparation for the planting of the crop.