Abstract
Organic farming has been identified as promoting soil quality even though tillage is used for weed suppression. Adopting zero tillage and other conservation tillage practices can enhance soil quality in cropping systems where synthetic agri-chemicals are relied on for crop nutrition and weed control. Attempts have been made to eliminate tillage completely when growing several field crops organically. Vegetative mulch produced by killed cover crops in organic zero tillage systems can suppress annual weeds, but large amounts are needed for adequate early season weed control. Established perennial weeds are not controlled by cover crop mulch. Integrated weed management strategies that include other cultural as well as biological and mechanical controls have potential and need to be incorporated into organic zero tillage research efforts. Market crop performance in organic zero tillage systems has been mixed because of weed, nutrient cycling, and other problems that still must be solved. Soil quality benefits have been demonstrated in comparisons between organic conservation tillage and inversion tillage systems, but studies that include zero tillage treatments are lacking. Research is needed which identifies agronomic strategies for optimum market crop performance, acceptable levels of weed suppression, and soil quality benefits following adoption of organic zero tillage.
Highlights
Proponents of organic farming argue that soil quality is best promoted in food production systems where biological, cultural, and physical practices are relied on to supply crops with adequate nutrition and suppression of pests
Full-season weed suppression could not be provided in the second year by a cover crop killed during the first year, but only three to six weeks may be needed until market crop plants are established and able to compete successfully with weed seedlings just emerging through the decomposing cover crop residue
Research on organic conservation tillage has expanded from a limited effort in the early 1990s to involve numerous research teams in both North America and Europe
Summary
Proponents of organic farming argue that soil quality is best promoted in food production systems where biological, cultural, and physical practices are relied on to supply crops with adequate nutrition and suppression of pests. These field studies were confounded by management differences between the conventional ZT and tilled organic systems—regular additions of animal manure and/or green manures were included only in the organic systems while synthetic fertilizers were used in the conventional systems—making it impossible to separate the soil quality impacts due to management system (i.e., conventional and organic) from cultural practice (e.g., presence or absence of manure and/or cover crops) Results of these studies failed to quell interest among organic farmers in the development of conservation tillage systems for use on organic farms [17]
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