Excerpt
SUSTAINABLE systems, like other agricultural systems, are subject to the constraints of soil and climate. Current research has attempted to integrate soil properties, environmental factors, and geographical aspects to classify soil types on the basis of their tillage requirement (17).
Adapting sustainable agricultural concepts into modern farming systems invariably entails reducing or modifying soil tillage practices. Conservation tillage has been defined as a tillage/planting system that retains a significant amount (i.e., 30 percent) of residue cover on the soil surface (1). Conservation tillage is an umbrella term covering a range of tillage systems from direct-drilling, in which the surface soil usually is uncultivated prior to seeding, to systems that employ tillage but retain a 30 percent residue cover.
Some soils, however, have a high cultivation requirement to maintain optimum soil structure; they require regular tillage to ensure adequate crop productivity (3, 17). In addition to this factor, common climatic constraints, such as a short growing season, cold temperatures, and excessive precipitation, influence the choice …
Footnotes
M. R. Carter and H. T. Kunelius are research scientists at the Research Station, Agriculture Canada, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. C1A 7M8.
- Copyright 1990 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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