Growth Spurts

Recognized globally as an ideal means of conserving soil and water while also storing soil carbon, the agricultural practice known as “no-till” may not be applicable under all environmental conditions.
No-till farming means leaving residue left on the soil surface after harvest in place rather than plowing it under. Compared to plowing, no-till has myriad benefits: [...]

Grass filter strips placed in riparian zones not only curb soil erosion, but also block and degrade the widely used herbicide atrazine, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists report.
Atrazine has been used extensively to suppress weeds in corn production for decades, but because it’s applied directly to soil it’s especially prone to losses in surface runoff. [...]

Sowing cover crops between rounds of cash crops can protect fields and enrich soils, but less than one in five Midwest farmers has ever used a cover crop, according to a survey conducted by agronomist Jeremy W. Singer of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
The survey about cover crop use was sent to a random sample [...]