United States conservation tillage

Table 1.6 Conservation tillage in the United States as a percent of total crop acres3...

The growth in conservation tillage continues today. In fact, the percentage of no-till acres in the United States grew from 6.0% to 22.6% between 1990 and 2004 as shown in Table 1.6 [Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC, 2004)]. Conservation tillage was used on more than 40% of all crop acres. 

Efforts to decrease soil degradation and erosion have been demonstrated by the rapid adoption of conservation tillage and no-till by farmers within the United States as shown in Table 32.2. 

Table 32.2 Conservation tillage and other tillage types in the United States in millions of acres (CTIC, 2004)...

Table 32.3 The adoption of conservation tillage practices in important agricultural countries other than the United States...

No one herbicide will do the job and control all of the many weeds in most fields. Farmers require combinations of effective and dependable herbicides that will work under a wide variety of weed species and densities, soil types, and climatic conditions. Many years of research, trial, error, and experience have been required for farmers to arrive at the greater than 22% of all corn acreage in no-till, and 112.6 million A (45.6 million ha) or more than 40% of our total United States cropland acres in some form of conservation tillage systems in 2004 (CTIC, 2004). Table 33.1 shows the trend toward various types of conservation tillage in recent years. 

Use of conservation tillage was one of the primary ways United States farmers met Conservation Compliance requirements of the 1985 Farm Bill. More than 75% of conservation plans for fields with Highly Erodible Land mandated some level of crop residue cover achievable through the use of conservation tillage. 

The 2001 Natural Resources Inventory (Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2003) shows dramatic decreases in erosion in the United States since 1982. Much of this reduction can be credited to adoption of conservation tillage, partly as a result of Conservation Compliance. Sheet and rill erosion fell from an average 9.2 X 103kg/ha/yr in 1982 to 6.2 X 103kg/ha/yr in 2001, a 33% drop. The average wind erosion rate also dropped 36% during the same period. 

United States Dept of Agriculture - Soil Conservation Service (1980) Save fuel... Use conservation tillage. Washington, DC, 1 p. 

United States Environmental Protection Agency (1987) Accelerated conservation tillage demonstration program 1981-1985. Great Lakes National Program Office, Chicago, Illinois, 51 pp. 

Uri, Noel D., The Environmental Consequences of the Conservation Tillage Adoption Decision in Agriculture in the United States, Water, Air, and Soil... 

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