Plowing and Tilling Slopes Cause Thinning of Soils and Jeopardizes Crop Yields, Study Claims

A recent study found that plowing and tilling on hilly farm slopes jeopardizes crop yields in the future. The researchers believe tillage erosion would amplify climate change and increase the dry spell frequency.

Overview of Crop Yield Effect of Tilling on Slope Soil

Researchers from Lancaster University (UK) and Augsburg University (Germany) argue that if farmers continue to till slopes over the long term, the slopes could eventually become so thin that they could seriously threaten the growth of food crops.

Professor Peter Fiener of the University of Augsburg said that the impact of the erosion of soils by tillage in rolling topography would likely become severe if the machines continue to grow and the frequency of droughts increases.

"The role of tillage in reducing soil depth remains an under-recognized threat to plant production. While we have known that tillage moves significant amounts of soil down slopes, often exceeding the amount moved by water and wind erosion, we have known little about how the resulting thinning of the soils affects crop yields until now," said Professor John Quinton, of Lancaster University and one of two Principal Investigators of the study.

Effects on Crop Production of Soil Thinning

To assess the effects of tillage at a regional landscape scale, the researchers used the available published information. The information gathered includes crop thinning, crop yields and applied soil pressure redistribution and crop growth models. The data allows the researchers to assess the yield gains in the concave parts of the landscape if they could outweigh the losses caused by thinning soils on slopes.

Based on the researchers' calculation, continuous soil tilling on the slope would lead to declines in winter wheat yields up to 7.1% within 50 years. It can go up to 10% over a century in normal to dry years. This data applies to the Uckermark region.

The effects of thinning soils will be most noticeable during droughts because the soils are less able to retain moisture and nutrients. For 50 to 100 years, then please search response to expect a decrease of fields in wetter years.

The decrease in yield could lead to tons of lost food production in the region. The investigators believe that this result does not only apply to the Uckermark mark region but also to the hilly slopes located across the world.

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Maize Crop Production Effects

The researchers projected maize yields would be claimed by up to 4% over 50 years and 5.9% over 100 years. The weather condition refers to normal to dry years.

The Uckermark region of northern Germany is a highly automated and productive agricultural region in Europe. Although Uckermark has at least 1,000 years of agricultural production, the researchers' modeling indicates that over the next 50 years, wheat and maize yields are projected to drop due to the increase of modern mechanized agriculture that speeds up slope-related erosion.

Farmers have been tilling the soil in their fields to create seed beds so that they can grow crops for generations.

In the last century, farming has become more mechanized, and the ancient animal-drawn plows that were once used for tilling have given way to heavier, faster tractors.

The results are shown in full in the study titled "Tillage exacerbates the vulnerability of cereal crops to drought," published in Nature Food.

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