A March 3 Associated Press report
reveals that no-till farming practices, which relies on minimal plowing
and crop rotation to preserve the quality of topsoil, is starting to catch
on with American farmers.
According to the Conservation Technology
Information Center, no-till methods were used on almost 110 million acres
in the United States in 1997 — about 37 percent of total farmland.
One of the factors driving the
adoption of no-till practices is the gradual phasing out of farm subsidies
under the 1996 “Freedom to Farm” law. As subsidy payments and
accompanying restrictions on what farmers can plant are eliminated, farmers
are looking for new crops to plant and more cost effective ways to plant
them.