Photos of the Week: Nature’s Plow vs. Man’s Plow

We wanted to share a few slides from retired USDA soil scientist Don Reicosky, exploring the true meaning of conservation, and why tillage isn’t part of the equation.

True conservation is carbon management. The two primary practices that contribute to the largest amount of conservation are no-till and synergy crops.

In nature, tillage is a catastrophic event. Feed the soil biology with roots and carbon exudates, don’t slice and dice them with tillage tools…you see the picture there saying replace steel with roots.

Plant roots go deep into soil for water, nutrients and carbon storage. Check out that impressive photo of a sugarbeet root following a worm channel 2 meters deep.

Next slide. The showdown of the century…Nature’s plows vs. man’s plows. The root system and the earthworms are the plows in the conservation system.  

Don’s next slide says there’s a battle between tillage machinery and the soil biology. Which one is going to win? Who is going to lose?

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, or should I say, soil.

Watch the full version of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.