No-till farming is radically different from what you’re probably accustomed to seeing.
All those neat rows of plants, bare ground in between, not a weed in sight.
This modern sort of farming is made possible with massive amounts of petroleum products, and not just the diesel that runs the equipment! Agricultural chemicals – fertilizers and herbicides – are also petrochemicals.
And it turns out that breaking up the soil by plowing or disking, long used for weed control and water conservation, might not be the best answer after all. Mother Nature, with her way of mulching the soil with last year’s spent crop, has it all over those USDA crop scientists.
Forward-thinking agriculturalists all over the world have looked backward and decided to try not tilling their fields.
And guess what?
No-till farming means there is a natural mulch. Mulching controls weeds, so no herbicide is needed.
Mulching also slows evaporation, so not as much irrigation is necessary. Mulch also becomes compost (and extra compost can be added on top of the mulch, if desired), so chemical fertilizer is kaput, too.
What does this mean to the farmer?
Lower costs and higher profit margins.
What does it mean to the world? Reduction and possible reversal of Global Warming.
Here’s a short film out of Canada to explain no-till farming a little more.
For more on how proper farming methods can prevent global warming, see The Carbon Cycle and Agriculture
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