The Cost of Tillage

G F Sassenrath

doi:10.4148/2378-5977.7914

Abstract

The Cost of Tillage

Highlights

Erodible areas of a field can lose more than 5 tons of soil per year with conventional tillage
Economic and productivity impacts for 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 years were calculated with the Agren SoilCalculator based on the cost-return budgets for southeast Kansas
The one-year average soil loss across the entire field was calculated to be much greater in the tilled field than in the no-till field (2.9 tons for the tilled field vs. 0.5 tons for the no-till field; Table 2)

Summary

Tillage has been a common event in farming for centuries. New information and management practices are demonstrating better ways of managing the soil to reduce erosion and improve productivity and profitability. Tillage destroys the soil structure, increasing the weeds and reducing the water holding capacity of the soil. Erodible areas of a field can lose more than 5 tons of soil per year with conventional tillage. Converting to no-till management can reduce production costs more than $30 per acre per year, saving topsoil and reducing management time in the field

Introduction

Experimental Procedures

Results and Discussion