Conservation Tillage: The Role of Farm and Operator Characteristics and the Perception of Soil Erosion

Abstract

For more than half a century, the use of grassed waterways, terraces, contour plowing, strip cropping, and the raising of closely seeded crops have been used in Wisconsin to control soil erosion. Under the traditional farming system, farmers have used the moldboard plow as the primary tillage implement. Because of the degree to which the soil is lifted and turned over, the resulting field conditions are susceptible to wind and water erosion. Recently, new technologies have been developed which reduce soil erosion through the reduction in the number of primary tillage operations and the intensity of soil displacement. Given the social costs associated with soil erosion, the question remains as to how state and Federal governments can most effectively motivate producers to adopt such soil conserving tillage practices. The least controversial would be the use of voluntary education programs. If such voluntary policies were enacted, it would be important to understand the relationship between producer characteristics and the adoption and use of these alternative tillage practices (Uchtmann and Seitz 1979). For example, do farmers who face increased demands on their time because of an off-farm job use reduced tillage practices at a different rate than full-time farmers? If a relationship between off-farm work and the use of timesaving cultivation practices can be established, then the increasing trend of off-farm employment and policies that assist in such activities may have an impact on the use of soil conservation practices. Over the last decade the use of alternatives to moldboard plow tillage practices as a means of controlling soil erosion and soil degradation has been the focus of considerable economic research (Rahm and Huffman 1984; Young and Shortle 1984; Korsching et al. 1983; Lee and Stewart 1983, 1985; Heimlich 1985). The issues addressed have included the role of operator, farm, land tenure, and institutional characteristics as well as the farm level economic impacts. A distinction has been made between the