Why Farmers Utilize Suboptimal Methods

2707 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Examples of no-till farming

Over the past thirty years, a new technique for planting has started to be slowly adopted by many farming operations throughout the United States and the world. This method, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, and farm expenditures, is no-till agriculture. No-till agriculture is an alternative to conventional tillage practices which have dominated the landscape of agriculture for many centuries. There are multiple issues that hinder the rate at which no-till agriculture is being adopted, but they are far outweighed by the advantages provided by no-till farming. This paper will seek to provide evidence and logic that will prove that no-till farming is vastly superior to conventional techniques, and as the next natural step in the advancement of agriculture no-till farming will serve as a way to improve farms across the world in terms of efficiency and cost effectiveness. It will also provide evidence that our current industry must change in order to provide incentives for farmers to work to conserve our resources and look towards the future.

Conventional agriculture refers to the process by which farmers break up the soil using farm equipment in order to speed up the decomposition of organic matter in the soil and prepare the soil for the planting of seeds. This process is referred to as tillage, and is accomplished using certain farm implements which have been developed and specialized specifically for this task. No-till practices effectively eliminate the entire tillage process, negating the need for the equipment, gas, labor, and maintenance costs that are associated with soil tillage. The elimination of this step in the farming process can decrease farm costs a great deal, and allow many farmers more fre...

... middle of paper ...

...eb. 19 Feb 2014. https://cropwatch.unl.edu/tillage/notill

O'Connor, Claire. "Farmers Reap Benefits as No-Till Adoption Rises." Switchboard. National Resource Defense Council, 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.

Reagan, Brad . "Plowing Through the Confusing Data on No-Till Farming." The Wall Street Journal 15 Oct. 2012: n. pag. Print.

Reji P. Mathew, Yucheng Feng, Leonard Githinji, Ramble Ankumah, and Kipling S. Balkcom, “Impact of No-Tillage and Conventional Tillage Systems on Soil Microbial Communities,” Applied and Environmental Soil Science, vol. 2012, Article ID 548620, 10 pages, 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/548620.

University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES). "No-till soil organic carbon sequestration rates published." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 April 2014. .

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of The Omnivore's Dilemma By Michael Pollan

    6082 Words  | 13 Pages

    In recent history, farming in America has changed dramatically, and Naylor’s farm is representative of many in the American Corn Belt. Though it began growing a variety of crops and keeping livestock too, Naylor now only plants corn and soybeans. In Naylor’s grandfather’s days, the farm fed the whole family with just enough left over for twelve others. Now, Naylor indirectly feeds an estimated 129 people, but this does not mean his farm is any more successful. In fact, Naylor’s farm cannot financially support his family.

    Read More

  • Living on Corn in the US

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...nergy from an acre of Iowa farmland. Unfortunately, for more than fifty years, farm policies is designed to encourage the overproduction of this crop and hardly any other. It simply because the government subsidize high-fructose corn syrup in this country. While the surgeon general is warning the epidemic of obesity, our government is still signing bills encouraging the river of cheap corn flowing. It is clearly shown that food production in America is partly a mixture of politic, economic and morality.

    Read More

  • Interpretations of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal

    1643 Words  | 4 Pages

    The. Saloutos, Theodore. A. The "New Deal Agricultural Policy: An Evaluation." The Journal of American

    Read More

  • Dust Bowl Cause

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    The nature of the Southern Plains soils and the periodic influence of drought could not be changed, but the technological abuse of the land could have been stopped. This is not to say that mechanized agriculture irreparably damaged the land-it did not. New and improved implements such as tractors, one-way disk plows, grain drills, and combines reduced plowing, planting, and harvesting costs and increased agricultural productivity. Increased productivity caused prices to fall, and farmers compensated by breaking more sod for wheat. At the same time, farmers gave little thought to using their new technology in ways to conserve the

    Read More

  • Organic vs. Non-organic Foods

    2300 Words  | 5 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... Katsvairo, Tawainga W., David L. Wright, Jim J. Marois, and Pawel P. Wiatrak. "Making the Transition from Conventional to Organic Farming Using Conservation Tillage in Florida. " University of Florida IFAS Extension.

    Read More

  • Women and New Deal Programs

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...o. “The Great Agricultural Transition: Crisis, Change, and Social Consequence of the Twentieth Century US Farming”. Annual Review of Sociology 27 (2001): 103-124.

    Read More

  • The Approach to Climate Change: Hamiltonian Response or Jeffersonian Response

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kegans, M. (2005). Mountains of Corn and a Sea of Farm Subsidies. The New York Times.

    Read More

  • Food Insecurity and the Low Income Family

    1476 Words  | 3 Pages

    A. “Farm Policy.” CQ Researcher 10 Aug. 2012: 693-716. Web. The Web. The Web.

    Read More

  • Farm Subsidies

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    New York Times, p. 1. Riedl, M. (2011, March 30). Farm subsidies ripe for reform?

    Read More

  • Pros Of Green Revolution

    434 Words  | 1 Pages

    By implementing new farming techniques provided with the new technological advances in machines we can see abundant harvest in even the poorest third world countries. For example, the Green Revolution has already showed admirable progress in the northern part of India ever since it took start in 1950. By 1997, northern India increased its grain production by 37 percent. This has proven that traditional farming methods are being rendered obsolete. And because by the year 2000, there will be half the land per person in developing countries as there was in 1970, we need to apply ultra-efficient methods to sustain the growing need. Not only does the Green Revolution enhances food output, it also preserves the environment.

    Read More

  • Organic versus Conventional Farming

    1455 Words  | 3 Pages

    For years organic farmers and conventional farmers have feuded over which is superior. Organic farmers argue that their product is more eco-friendly because they do not use the synthetic chemicals and fertilizers conventional farmer’s use. Conventional farmers argue that their product is healthier and yields more. People tend to have stereotypes regarding the two types of farmers. Organic farmers are usually thought of as liberal, hippy, tree-huggers while conventional farmers are usually thought of as right-wing, industrialists. Obviously, some do adhere to this stereotype, but a majority of these farmers are normal, hardworking people. Although these farmers, both believe in their methods, one is no better than the other. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but there is no true superior method of crop farming.

    Read More

  • Effects of Agriculture on the Environment

    2078 Words  | 5 Pages

    Agriculture also leads to soil erosion, both through rainfall and wind. This soil can damage the aquatic ecosystems it ends up in, an...

    Read More

  • The Benefits Of Sustainable Agriculture

    2176 Words  | 5 Pages

    Soil is the most important non-renewable resource on any farm. Healthy soil is key to a good

    Read More

  • A Career in Farming

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stone, Archie. Careers in Agribusiness and Industry. Danville: The Interstate Printers & Publishers, Inc., 1970.

    Read More

  • Agriculture Technology

    2189 Words  | 5 Pages

    Thompson, Paul B. and Stout, Bill A. Beyond The Large Farm. Westview Press, Inc.: Colorado 1991

    Read More

More about Why Farmers Utilize Suboptimal Methods

Open Document