Organic No-Till

Farming like the Earth matters

f we could do one thing for the planet, Id vote for ditching the plow.
For starters, turning soil over with a plow to grow fooda practice that goes back at least five thousand yearscauses erosion and
robs plants of critical nutrients, organic matter, and shade by removing
crop residues on the soil surface. Worse, plowingalso called tilling
destroys the microbial universe underground by exposing beneficial
protozoa, fungi, and other forms of life to the killing effects of sunlight, wind, and heat. The plow itself also tears delicate and essential
mycorrhizal fungi to pieces. These microcritters are a key to soil
fertility, which is why synthetic fertilizers are required in conventional
systems to replace the fertility lost because of their mass slaughter.
Lastly, plowing also releases large amounts of stored carbon into the
atmosphere, adding to the planets greenhouse gas problem. Repeated
plowing eventually depletes soil of its carbon stocks.
Fortunately, there is an alternative to the plowits called no-till. On
a modern, conventional farm, a tractor and a plow are required in order
to turn over the soil and prepare it for seeding and fertilizing, a process
the often requires three passes of the tractor over the field. In a no-till
system, a farmer uses a mechanical seed drill pulled behind a tractor to
plant directly into the soil, requiring only one pass. The drill makes a
thin slice in the soil as it moves along, but nothing resembling the broad
furrow created by a plow. The soil is not turned over and any growing
plants or crop residue on the surface are left largely undisturbed, which
is a great way to reduce erosion and keep soil cool and moist, especially
during the hot summer months. These are all good reasons why no-till
has grown in popularity with farmers around the world.
One of the major disadvantages of no-till, however, is its lack of
weed control. When farmers dont plow, the weeds say thank you

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very much for all that undisturbed soil and grow vigorously. To kill
weeds in a no-till system, many farmers apply chemical herbicides to
their fields. Lots of them. They also spray pesticides to keep the bugs
in check. Additionally, many no-till farmers use genetically modified
seeds, often in combination with the synthetic herbicides.
All of this is verboten in an organic farming system, of course, which
brings us to the Holy Grail of regenerative agriculture: organic no-till.
It combines the best of both worldsno plow and no chemicals. It
operates on biologyplus the tractor and the seed drill. Its a major
development thats just catching on and it came about as innovations
so often doby accident.
One day, Jeff Moyer, the longtime farm director at the Rodale
Institute, an organic farming research and education center located in
eastern Pennsylvania, noticed that as he drove in and out of a field on
his tractor, the wheels had crushed and killed a plant called hairy vetch
along the fields edges. Vetch is a winter-tolerant legume that organic
farmers often plant as a cover crop in the fall to protect the soil surface
until the cash crop, such as wheat or corn, can be planted in the spring.
Moyer realized that by crimping (crushing) the vetch plants with
the tractors wheels, he had caused them to die but hadnt detached the
plants from the soil. This was important because, by remaining attached
to their roots, the dead vetch became a new type of cover cropalbeit
a dead one. (Normally cover crops are harvested, composted, and
applied to the field later in the year.) This was good because it meant
that after a pass of the no-till drill in the springto plant the seeds of
the cash cropthe layer of dead vetch would suppress any weed that
tried to grow. Most weeds do not have the strength or stamina to push
their way up through a layer of organic material. No chemicals needed;
no turning the soil needed. Voila, organic no-till!
However, no mechanical piece of equipment existed that could do
the job of crimping the cover crop (and driving a pickup truck through
a whole field for the task would be impractical). So, Moyer took the
initiative and, after lots of trial and error, he and his colleague John
Brubaker settled on a design for what they call a roller-crimpera
hollow metal cylinder to which shallow metal ribs have been welded
in a chevron design (like tractor tires). The roller-crimper is mounted
in front of a tractor, and as it rolls along through a field it efficiently
crimps the cover crop, breaking the plants stalks. The weight of the
roller-crimper can be adjusted by adding or removing water from the
hollow cylinder.
As developed by Moyer and others over the subsequent years, there
are four basic steps to organic no-till:

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Organic No-Till

Detail of a roller-crimper, the key piece of equipment in an organic no-till

farming system. Photo by Courtney White

1. To protect the soil and keep down the weeds, a winter-hardy cover
crop such as vetch, barley, wheat, or rye is planted in the fall;
2. When the cover crop reaches maturity in the spring, the farmer
knocks it down with a roller-crimper;
3. The farmer plants a cash crop with a no-till drill, usually at the same
time she or he crimps (crimper in front of the tractor, drill pulled
behind), and the cash crop germinates and grows up through the
crimped cover crop;
4. After harvest in the fall, the organic residue of both crops can be
incorporated into the soil as next years cover crop is planted.
Organic no-till offers a wealth of benefits. The decomposing cover
crop builds soil and substantially reduces erosion. Nearly all annual
weeds are smothered. Cover crop roots increase nutrient cycling in the
soil, and biodiversity is increased. Plus, greenhouse gas emissions are
reduced. On the practical front, costs are low and the roller-crimper is
easy to use and maintain.
Better yet, if the tractor runs on farm-produced biodiesel or if the
crimper is pulled by horses, dependence on fossil fuels is further
reduced.
There are, however, some downsides to the system. Planting cover
crops is extra work and an extra cost, and choosing the correct cover
crop for your land and matching it to the needs of the cash crop can
involve a lot of experimentation. The crop requires water, sometimes a
lot of it (which makes the practice problematic in arid environments).
Perennial weeds can be a nuisance. Rolling the crimper too early in the

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season can be a costly mistake if
the cover crop doesnt die completely. And like anything new,
success requires a great deal of
patience.
Overall, the advantages
far outweigh the downsides,
which is why the practice is
spreading rapidly. According to
Moyer, there are now hundreds
of roller-crimpers at work on
farms and research stations
across the nation.
The roller-crimper in action (Jeff Moyer on
Organic no-till farming has
tractor). A cover crop is crimped in the spring to
smother weeds and protect the cash crop. Photo
another big benefit: it sequescourtesy of the Rodale Institute
ters carbon dioxide in the soil.
Research at Rodale shows that
when soil is turned over by a plow, the sudden access to oxygen speeds
up the biological decomposition process, by which microbes eat up
organic matter and burp carbon dioxide into the air. In contrast,
organic methods sequester carbon by improving biological life in the
soil. When combined with no-till, according to Rodales data, the system has the potential to sequester 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of carbon per
acre per yearwhich is a lotpulled directly from the atmosphere.
Organic no-till is a Holy Grail that we can all appreciate!

TO LEARN MORE
Organic No-Till Farming: Advancing No-Till
AgricultureCrops, Soil, Equipment by Jeff Moyer.
Acres USA, Austin, TX, 2011.
Regenerative Organic Agriculture and
Climate Change: A Down-to-Earth Solution to Global
Warming, a white paper from the Rodale Institute, 2014.
Available through www.rodaleinstitute.org

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