Is Tillage Stealing Your Soil?

By: Gil Gullickson

In 2014, Jodi DeJong- Hughes prepared a field day exhibit with other University of Minnesota (U of M) researchers. “We created a soil with alternating layers of sand and clay through which we ran a disk ripper,” recalls the U of M Extension soil scientist.

As the disk ripper steamed through the soil, something caught their eye, akin to a shiny penny at the bottom of a swimming pool. “We could see the soil moving 8 to 10 feet in front of the disk ripper,” she says. “I knew the disk ripper moved soil, but I didn’t think it moved it that far.”