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Soil from crop fields which were plowed and left bare over the winter months is one of the greatest soil erosion problems we as farmers and conservationists face.
Plowing buries the previous crop residues and leaves the soil bare. Bare soil has no protection from the forces of rain drops falling at tremendous velocity, dislodging the soil into smaller, lighter particles that wash off your fields with valuable nutrients and organic matter. No cover or residue means quick run off.
There are ways to cut down on this type of soil loss. Stop plowing is one obvious way. No-till planting for some has become a way of farm life. Reducing the number of times one plows is certainly a far better plan than leaving the soil to wash away every year.
Scheduling the plowing in the spring and leaving some type of residue cover over the winter months will also help reduce erosion. Plowing in the spring just before a crop is planted minimizes the length of time the soils are left unprotected, thus limiting the risk or erosion and increasing your forage production. Just by adding more years of grass to your rotation will substantially lower the soil loss rate.
Stripcropping is another popular effective alternative to plowing the
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