Conservation tillage research needs

CONSERVATION tillage is defined as any tillage and planting system that maintains at least 30 percent surface residue cover after planting to reduce soil erosion by water or, where soil erosion by wind is the primary concern, maintains at least 1,000 pounds per acre of flat small grain residue equivalent on the field surface during the critical erosion period ( 35 ). Tillage systems encompassed by this definition from the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) include no-till or slot planting, ridge-till, strip-till, mulch-till, and reduced-till. In the 24 eastern and midwestern states, conservation tillage was used on 38.3 percent of the cropland in 1988. This compared to a national average of 32.3 percent, which represented an increase of 1.9 million acres (8) compared to the 1987 acreage, and brought the total for conservation tillage nationally to more than 88 million acres. Increased use of conservation tillage in these states probably reflects aggressive and successful research and technology transfer programs. Several conservation tillage management techniques have been …