Title:
Many Farmers and Gardeners Turn Away From Tilling
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
Farmers and gardeners have turned the soil for
centuries. But many now believe in no-till or
reduced tillage, a method also called conservation
tillage. The Conservation Technology Information
Center says forty percent of American cropland used
this method at last report.Tilling can remove weeds
and the waste from last season's crops and help
break down old plant material into fertilizer. But
it can also increase the risk of soil erosion by
rain or wind. Tilling also releases carbon dioxide
from the soil into the atmosphere. No-till keeps
carbon in the soil and avoids the release of
heat-trapping gases from motorized equipment. It
also keeps water in the soil and protects helpful
organisms like earthworms. And it saves money on
labor, machinery and fuel.A recent study reported on
almost twenty years of different tillage methods in
the American states of Colorado, Kansas and
Nebraska. The researchers say tillage makes soil
less resistant to being broken apart by raindrops.
They say no-till stores more soil carbon, which
helps the soil particles stick together. They found
that the first two and a half centimeters of topsoil
are up to seven times stronger against rain than
plowed soil. The study also noted that when tilled
soil particles come in contact with air, soil
organic matter is lost through the process of
oxidation. The findings appeared in the Soil Science
Society of America Journal. Another recent study
found that a single tillage does not harm yield or
soil structure in land that is normally not tilled.
Charles Wortmann at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln says a one-time tillage may be used
to correct a problem like aggressive weeds. His
five-year study appeared in the Agronomy
Journal.Fabian Fernandez, a soil and plant nutrition
expert at the University of Illinois, says no-till
means less intensive labor. But he also says it does
not mean an end to preparing the ground for
planting. Jimmy Wagner works at the American Plant
garden center in Bethesda, Maryland. He says hand
tools like tilling forks, shovels and thatching
rakes require more work than a rotary tiller, but
they work well and cost less. If you till, wait
until the soil is warm and dry enough. If the soil
stays together in a ball, it is too wet to till. For
VOA Special English I'm Alex Villarreal. You can
find more Agriculture Reports at
voaspecialenglish.com.
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personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
