Conservation tillage is not conservation agriculture

A LOOMING COLLISION: GLOBAL POPULATION AND FOOD SECURITY As world population increases and food production demands rise, keeping our soil healthy and productive while protecting the environment is of paramount importance for agriculture. The expanding global population—expected to reach 9.5 billion people by 2050 (United Nations 2014)—is putting tremendous pressure on the finite land area and resources for agricultural production, and pending climate extremes exacerbate the challenge of food security for both developed and developing countries.

Despite the lessons of history, soil erosion is still a major problem in agricultural production systems. Efforts to control land degradation and soil erosion can be traced over the last 10,000 years; humankind has been building on the ruins of the past tillage and monoculture concepts at our peril (Lal et al. 2007; Montgomery 2007a, 2007b). Montgomery (2007b) describes the effects of poor soil management and erosion on several past civilizations. Once thriving, these civilizations eventually collapsed due to erosion, salinization, nutrient depletion, and other types of soil degradation. Tillage for soil preparation for planting and cultivation, by loosening soil and easing its transport by wind or water, induces and increases erosion. We are losing soil faster than nature can make it. In fact,…