Wide beds with conservation tillage

CONSERVATION tillage systems have tremendous potential for controlling erosion, but crop yields generally decline when the systems are used on poorly drained soils ( 5 ). Lower soil temperatures caused by high soil moisture reduce crop germination, emergence, and early growth ( 6 ). The problem is confined pretty much to the surface soil. Established plants will root deeper in response to interdependent soil warming and moisture losses later in the season. Crop waterlogging is another problem in areas with poor surface drainage. Such cold, wet soil problems occur throughout the major silt and clay soil cropping areas of the United States. Conservation tillage systems have enough potential to make even skeptics take a second look. Such systems can reduce labor, machinery investment, and field power requirements. They can improve timeliness of operations, reduce seedling diseases, and control runoff and erosion. But the systems will be successful only if all their components are mutually beneficial. Apparently, something is missing in current conservation tillage technology that limits the adaptation of systems to poorly drained soils. We believe that conservation tillage systems built around the use of permanent wide beds will accomplish what other systems have failed to accomplish and thereby answer the objections of skeptics …