RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Energy efficiency of tillage systems
JF Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
FD Soil and Water Conservation Society
SP 105
OP 108
VO 37
IS 2
A1 Chancellor, William J.
YR 1982
UL http://www.jswconline.org/content/37/2/105.abstract
AB Energy requirements for agricultural tillage in the United States are 3.8 billion liters (1 billion gallons) of diesel fuel equivalent annually. The overall efficiency with which this energy is applied to the soil is about 0.25 percent, mainly because of problems in making tillage implements efficient in breaking up the soil. Because the energy inputs to other aspects of crop production, particularly in irrigated agriculture, tend to dwarf tillage energy inputs, changes in tillage energy inputs must be viewed in terms of the overall energy efficiency of the crop production system. Generally, this means that changes to make tillage more energy efficient must be those that do not reduce yields.