From the July 2008 Scientific American Magazine | 14 comments

No-Till: How Farmers Are Saving the Soil by Parking Their Plows ( Preview )

The age-old practice of turning the soil before planting a new crop is a leading cause of farmland degradation. Many farmers are thus looking to make plowing a thing of the past

By David R. Huggins and John P. Reganold

Key Concepts

Conventional plow-based farming leaves soil vulnerable to erosion and promotes agricultural runoff.
Growers in some parts of the world are thus turning to a sustainable approach known as no-till that minimizes soil disturbance.
High equipment costs and a steep learning curve, among other factors, are hindering widespread adoption of no-till practices.

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John Aeschliman turns over a shovelful of topsoil on his 4,000-acre farm in the Palouse region of eastern Washington State. The black earth crumbles easily, revealing a porous structure and an abundance of organic matter that facilitate root growth. Loads of earthworms are visible, too—another healthy sign.

Thirty-four years ago only a few earthworms, if any, could be found in a spadeful of his soil. Back then, Aeschliman would plow the fields before each planting, burying the residues from the previous crop and readying the ground for the next one. The hilly Palouse region had been farmed that way for decades. But the tillage was taking a toll on the Palouse, and its famously fertile soil was eroding at an alarming rate. Convinced that there had to be a better way to work the land, Aeschliman decided to experiment in 1974 with an emerging method known as no-till farming.

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