Reducing Tillage in Organic Production Systems

1. Reducing Tillage in Organic Production Systems Anu Rangarajan, Cornell University ar47@cornell.edu

2. Reduced Tillage Goals • Enhance soil quality • Conserve organic matter • Improve tilth • Conserve moisture • Reduce erosion • Minimize soil disturbance • Minimize weed germination • Reduce compaction • Reduce fuel use • Reduce equipment use • Minimize hand weeding • Maintain yields

3. Key Features in Organic RT • Cover crops intensively cultivated • Seeding and rates • Timing of seeding • Methods of seeding • Methods of killing • Rotations can be complex • Diversified operations • Diverse crop types and planting schemes • Integration of animals

4. All organic RT systems will require some type of tillage at some point in the rotation Objective is to minimize frequency, intensity and energy needed for these events.

5. Organic Options to Reduce tillage • Annual Strategies • Frequency • Intensity • Spatially • Multi-year Strategies • Rotation • Different Systems • Hybrid mulch system • Permanent Beds

6. Permanent No-till • No tillage passes • Residue minimally disturbed • Maximize protection against erosion and crusting • Conventional tillage • Primary, secondary tillage, seedbed preparation • 2-4 field tillage passes • ‘Clean Field’

7. Steps: • Seeding a cover crop • Kill cover crop, leaving mostly on surface • Establish reduced width planting zone • Establish Transplant or Large Seeded Crop • Manage weeds • Harvest crop • Seed a cover crop

8. Cover crop seeding rates and stand are critical

9. Mechanical killing Cover Crops

10. Killing cover crops • Flail • Sickle • Rotary OR: Winter killed cover crops

12. Zone tillage • Zone building for seedbed • Till zone 4-6 inches • One field pass

13. Unverferth Zone Builder • Strip tillage • Vertical tillage to reduce compaction • Zone building for seedbed • One or two passes Tufline subsoiler

14. Vertical Tillage in the Zone

15. Reducing Tillage Widths

16. Penetration Resistance

17. Manage residue during planting

19. Maintain a Minimum Weed Free Period • Hand weeding • Mechanical cultivation

21. High Residue cultivator sweeps (12 to 20” wide) work well in high residue conditions to undercut weeds. The angle of the sweep can be changed to 0-degree, 2-degree, and 4-degree for differing aggressiveness. The shank is ½ wide at the soil to allow soil and residue to flow more easily and minimize hairpinning. • Test: • Sweeps • V-plows • Undercutters • Seeding Rates! *Grisso et al

22. Reducing tillage in time through Rotations • “Bio-extensive” rotation • Weed management • Soil moisture conservation • Fixing and recycling carbon and nitrogen • Feed soil microbes and crops • Shallow and reduced tillage *Dacum Rotation Planner, NESFI and NEON

23. Organic Options to Reduce tillage • Annual Strategies • Frequency • Intensity • Spatially • Multi-year Strategies • Rotation • Different Systems • Hybrid mulch system • Permanent Beds

24. Hybrid Mulch Approach Plastic intact for 2-3 years Cover crop managed between rows

25. Permanent beds Tillage to incorporate cover Controlled Traffic

26. Maintain drive areas Reduce Tillage in space • Fall • tillage (conventional) • drill cover crop • Spring • roll cover crop • no-till transplant into cover • NOTE: cooler soils

27. Mixing cover crop species on the bed

28. Future Directions • Small seeded crops • New cultivation strategies • Dealing with residue • Scaled for smaller vegetable operation • Organic reduced till • Systems comparisons • Cover crop management • Engaging more growers in on-farm trials