EcoFarm To Till or Not to Till: That is the Question

Reducing tillage, which has tended to rely on synthetic herbicides, has long been unattainable on organic farms. Recent research, however, is changing the conversation. Featured speaker Dwayne Beck is a celebrated pioneer in no-till systems development for both irrigated and drylands in central South Dakota. Dwayne will speak on the soil nutrient cycling’s relationship to tillage in production agriculture, as well as the necessity to radically alter farming practice if we expect agriculture to sustain us into an indefinite future. The session will also feature presenters from a collaboration between three legacy California organic vegetable growers, UC Davis, and CSU Chico, which is supported by a USDA NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant. This partnership has been conducting on-farm experiments over three years towards the development of No-Till / Reduced-Till systems. This day-long program will present successes, failures, and continuing challenges in this effort as it moves into its fourth year of learning.