When farmers talk abot "no till" to put their crops in the ground, what do they mean?

Answer 1

No till means that you just drop the seed on the ground, and they germinate on top, or they just inject the seeds into the ground, because some farmers do not like to disturb their precious soil.

Answer 2

Normally, when a farmer is going to plant a crop, he will use a plow or a disc to break up the ground and turn the soil. This creates a good bed for the seed to germinate and allows for loose soil so the roots can get established. In no till farming, they don't use such invasive methods. They still use implements to break the soil, but just enough to get the seed inbedded in the ground, such as a harrow or spring-tooth. The reason for less invasive tilling methods is too moderate the erosive effects of plowing or discing.

Answer 3

It means instead of ploughing or disking the whole field and letting the soil erode through wind and water, you just till a small strip ahead of each row as you plant and put the seeds into it and leave the rest of the residue on the surface to stop erosion. It also uses much, much less fuel and produces less carbon dioxide than either conventional planting with tillage or organic farming which needs even more tillage than conventional, and as a result no-till is the main way farmers can help reduce the effects of global warming. No-till crops also store more carbon than conventional or organic which also helps with global warming.

Answer 4

No till means that you just drop the seed on the ground, and they grow on top, or they drop the seeds intoa hole in the ground. They don't have broken groud...like using a tiller to break up the hard ground so that the ground is softer!!

Answer 5

It means they do not plow the land. They apply herbicide to kill weeds and grass. Then they plant the seeds using a disk-like planter to get the seeds in the ground.

The whole idea is to stop soil runoff that happens with rain when the land is deep-plowed.

Answer 6

"no till" farming is when farmer do not do anything to the soil year after year as to preserve it and not disturbe it.

Answer 7

it means not using a tractor and planting in mulch

the tractor is used inicially to shape the land and to make it receptive to water harvesting.
but after that the top layer of soil is left in peace so that microorganisms can get on with building soil

when ploughing the land this layer is killed over and over again ,making the soil dry out ,killing all micro-organisms ,and the soil becomes poor in no time,

No till farming is being adopted now by hardcore farmers who have traditionally farmed by ploughing for generations ,because production is double ,the work is far less .there are less weeds to contend with because these always arrive when the soil is broken,and in the end costs far less in both labor and tractor work
and fertilizer is not needed if one adds mulch and compost making the soil progressively richer

on top of that continued used of heavy machinary compacts the ground and raises the salt to the surface.

some general points on sustainable farming
WATER HARVESTING
,dig small dams every where to cath the rain water, and you can archieve that all of the rain water is absorbed by the land ,it will seep slowly into the ground to add to subteranean water suplies ,make sure that all the dams are interconnected by slow gradient ditches .just because you dont see water ,does not mean that it is not there .
Normally a land repels water and with the rains it runs over ground into the rivers and awy.
think now that you want to make the land receptive or absorbent of all the water that falls on it.

MULCH
cut down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall,they will cover the ground and put even more organic matter on top,you can use saw dust,leaves green or dry,and when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.this is the easiest quickest and by far most benificial way(for the quality of you soul)to prepare the land for planting

to prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).

what you do is to cover the ground with mulch which is the same principal as compost but it includes the whole garden surface
the top part of the soil where the topsoil is being produced houses a world or microbiotic life.

Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil

the humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the devellopment of worms(their exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together with the mulch produce more topsoil.

the mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surfave if on unprotected land

Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and, lay it open to wind erosian.

and it turn out the lights for any weeds that want to come up
do not use chemicals because the water will wash them into the ground and if enough people did that, you would be guilty of helping to contaminate subteranean water suplies that other people could be pumping up to drink

SUSTAINABLE FARMING
the best examples on this Earth of sustainable agriculture,
are the chinampas of central Mexico ,the surviving ones(that have not been consumed by urban devellopment)have been going for more than 800 years ,that is sustainability.
the are built from the mud of the lakes and enriched with compost ,in the old days with the toilet contents of the outhouses that were on the bridges going into town,which the indians collected with a canoo.

Another example are the traced gardens of the Inca which have been going for more than a thousand years,there success is also because of the principle of using compost and their form which id a receptive concave absorb the rain waters and collect the dust from the wind (for hundreds of years and so increase in quality instead of the oposite.
in the Ukraine are also examples of ancient agriculture due to no till farming and mulching(green organic matter that is added)

in Mexico today are still examples from old Indian agricultural practises of diversity or companion planting.
where by a series of 7 or 8 species of plants are put together or one folows the other.to create biodiversity ,and utilisation of space.
Corn is planted for example ,wich is followed 4 weeks later by a bean that climbs it.
and agavi and edible cactus is on the sides to protect these plants from foraging animals and add chemicals to the soil by their secretions.and others are in between to provide groundcover

there are many forms of sustainable farming in the past,and today those who follow the principles of permaculture,no till farming,organic or sustainable farming are the new generation of agriculturists who have seen the light.

Many farmers who live with the results of their bad agricultural practises are now eager to join the ranks.
and their work cqn be seen in Vietnam,Australia,America,rare cases in Mexico,Africa,Europe.etc.

Permaculture means permanent agriculture
a concept put forward by Bill Mollisson in the 60`s
the designers manual by Bil Mollison cost about 40 dollars.
this is a complete hand book for environmental design.and is the best all round book you can get.( [e-mail])

With practical solutions for energy systems ,infratructure ,housing,
animal shelter ,water systems and sustainable agricultural practises.
With the world and it`s history as it`s source
From the chinampas of Mexico to the teraced gardens of the Andes.
From the dessert whadis to the steppes of Russia.
Covering all climatic conditions temporal, dessert, humid and dry tropics.
with chapters on soil ,Water harvesting and land design,
Earth working ,Spirals in nature,Trees and water ,utilising energy flows,
Strategy for an alternative nation

some other writers that are on the internet are
david Holmgren
Larry Santoyo
Kirk Hanson

Masanobu Fukuaka has written ,
One-Straw Revolution
The Road Back to Nature
The Natural Way of Farming
http://www.context.org/iclib/ic14/fukuok...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/masanobu_fu...

Simon Henderson
and Bill Molisson.

a representitive of the concept in USA is
Dan Hemenway at [e-mail]
[e-mail]
http://barkingfrogspc.tripod.com/frames.htm
http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalog.htm

I am a permaculture consultant for the department of Ecology for the regional government of Guerrero in Mexico Source(s) i got a yahoo 360 which has some stuff in English as well as this spaces
http://spaces.msn.com/byderule

Answer 8

tilling means ploughing.i hope u got my point