Conservation tillage: Revolution or evolution?

RAPID diffusion of conservation tillage has been called the latest revolution in American agriculture ( 7 ). Depending on the estimate cited, the shift has been from between 3.2 million acres ( 1 ) and 44 million acres ( 9 ) in some form of conservation tillage in 1973 to between 94 million acres ( 2 ) and 126 million acres ( 10 ) in conservation tillage in 1983. Predictions of future trends in use of the technology are also optimistic. By the year 2000 conservation tillage will be used on about 60 percent of U.S. cropland according to Pierre Crosson ( 4 ), nearly 70 percent according to the Office of Technology Assessment ( 15 ), and as much as 80 percent according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture ( 17 ). Others even foresee the ultimate adoption of conservation tillage on all cropland (6). From few farmers using this technology only a decade ago, there are claims today that between 75 percent (16) and 80 percent (5) of all farmers employ conservation tillage. Given these optimistic reports, it is easy to conclude that the rapid diffusion of conservation tillage does indeed represent a revolution in agriculture. Before conservationists unsaddle their warhorses and pat themselves on the back for promoting this latest technological ...