No-Till: Increasing Soil Organic Content

With no-till farming, you need to try to gradually increase the organic content of the soil.

- Bill Kerr

As mentioned in previous articles (FW, 17 August, 24 August, 31 August), this helps increase the fertility, taste and nutrient content of your produce, conserves water and makes farming easier and less hazardous.

Just by not tilling, you drastically reduce the loss of carbon (C) from the soil.

All micro-organisms in the soil are eating to stay alive, and are, thus, releasing carbon dioxide into the air. The higher the organic content, the more soil organisms present, and the greater the loss of C through the release of carbon dioxide. In order to maintain the soil organic content at a higher level, you have to provide more ‘carbon-containing’ food for the organisms. This is similar to maintaining livestock: the more animals you have, the more feed you need to provide.