Conservation Through No-till, Strip-till

By: Liz Juchems

The land is one of the most valuable assets in the farming operation — second only to the people who care for it. Practices like no-tillage and strip-tillage work to protect those assets from erosion of the soil and the land’s value. A new publication series by the Iowa Learning Farms can help start the conservation conversation for landowners and tenants.

What is the difference between conservation tillage and no-tillage?
No-till is a soil conservation practice that leaves the soil undisturbed between harvest and planting except for the injection of nutrients, such as anhydrous ammonia or liquid manure. No-till typically has 80% of the crop residue cover remaining after planting. Conservation tillage, on the other hand, leaves about 30% of the residue to protect the soil after planting.

With the added residue covering the soil, how do you get the crop planted?
To prepare the seedbed, a coulter or disk seed-furrow opens narrow strips within the field for planting, creating good seed-to-soil contact. Residue from the previous year doesn’t interfere with planting, and remains on the soil surface to protect soil from erosion. When no-till planting soybeans after corn, row cleaners are often used to push crop residue out of the way of the seedbed.