A26 - Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 1, 2014
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Ag Science News
No-Till May Not Boost Global Crop Yields, Study Finds
No-till farming, a key conservation agricul- prove long-term productivity, profits and food were minimized when the principles of crop ture decreases yields.
ture strategy that avoids conventional plowing security, particularly under the threat of cli- rotation and residue retention were also pracIn regions with moist climates and suffiand otherwise disturbing the soil, may not mate change.
ticed, highlighting the importance of imple- cient precipitation, no-till farming actually
bring a hoped-for boost in crop yields in much
Because conservation agriculture avoids menting all three conservation agriculture resulted in yields that were on average 6 to 9
of the world, according to an extensive new tillage, it is less time-consuming and can be principles as part of an integrated manage- percent lower than with conventional tillage
meta-analysis by an international team led by more cost-effective than conventional farm- ment system rather than no-till alone.
methods.
the University of California, Davis.
ing methods.
Moreover, when adopted in dry climates in
“No one has ever stated that there would be
As the core principle of conservation agriIn recent years, however, there has been combination with the other two principles of a significant decline like this,” said Chris van
culture, no-till has been promoted worldwide some disagreement about the impact of no-till conservation agriculture, no-till farming per- Kessel, a professor of plant sciences at UC
in an effort to sustainably meet global food farming practices on yield.
formed significantly better than conventional Davis and co-author of the study.
demand. But after examining results from 610
New Findings About Yield
tillage, likely due to the higher retention of
“Our findings suggest that broad implepeer-reviewed studies, the researchers found
“This review was a tremendous undertak- soil moisture.
mentation of conservation agriculture may
that no-till often leads to yield declines com- ing and is probably the largest meta-analysis
Dryland ecosystems are home to 38 percent not be warranted in all areas,” he said. “parpared with conventional tillage systems. It done in agriculture,” said co-author Bruce of the world’s population, and millions of ticularly where residue retention and crop rostill shows promise for yield gains in dryland Linquist, a Cooperative Extension specialist acres of land in arid regions of Sub-Saharan tation practices are hard to implement.”
areas, however.
Africa and South Asia have been identified as
at UC Davis.
Source: American Association for the AdThe findings from the review were pubAfter assessing more than 5,000 side-by- suitable for sustainable intensification.
vancement of Science.
lished online Oct. 22 in the journal Nature.
Yet, the authors also caution that
side observations, the researchers concluded
“The big challenge for agriculture is that we that, on average, no-till negatively impacts practicing no-till in dryland areas withneed to further increase yields but greatly re- yields at the global scale, yet several oppor- out the implementation of the other
duce our environmental impacts,” said Cam- tunities exist for more closely
two principles of conservation agriculeron Pittelkow, who co-authored the study as matching or even exceeding
a postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis and is now conventional tillage yields.
on the faculty of the University of Illinois.
For example, yield reductions
“The common assumption that no-till is going
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