No-till and Strip-till Farming
Reduced tillage cares for soil health by building organic matter and conserving moisture.
To Till or Not to Till
Farmers often till soil to prepare fields for maximum yield. Farmers who till use it for weed control, seedbed preparation, and fertilization. But are your tillage practices creating more problems than they’re solving?
Tilling can cause soil erosion, compaction, nutrient runoff and organic matter loss. In the long run, these problems can result in reduced ROI for producers. That’s why more and more farmers are adopting no-till and strip-till practices.
How it’s Done
Click through to learn about different methods of tillage.
TILL
TILL
Tilling requires several field operations and heavy-duty implements to prepare a seedbed. The soil is worked to create clean conditions for planting seeds. Tillage involves digging, stirring and overturning soil, and you may need to till a field several times before it’s ready for planting.
NO-TILL
NO-TILL
No-till practices require planters with disks that can cut the soil and put row crop seeds at a certain depth in the soil, then close the narrow slice of soil the seed was deposited into. This helps conserve soil and water while reducing time spent preparing the soil.
STRIP-TILL
STRIP-TILL
Farmers till narrow six-inch strips of soil and plant seeds into those strips. Fertilizer can also be applied to these strips. The undisturbed soil between tilled strips increases water infiltration and reduces erosion.
Benefits at a Glance
No-tilled and strip-tilled fields often have better soil health and resiliency. That means you have the potential to increase your profit margins. Plus, landowners are saving inches of topsoil over the years, which is priceless. Other benefits include:
Up to 80% reduced soil erosion
Increased soil organic matter
Improved soil health
Up to /50% reduced soil moisture loss
Up to 40% reduced phosphorus loss
Up to 52% fuel savings
Up to 58% labor savings
Reduced equipment requirements
Partner Spotlight: INREC
Every year, the Iowa Nutrient Research Education Council surveys farms across the state to measure conservation adoption. According to the INREC, about 2/3 of farmers used no-till or conservation tillage in 2023. Check out the rest of the survey results here.
Cost-Share Options
Strip-till practices can require an upfront investment for equipment costs. Some farmers worry about yield drags when converting to no-till. There are cost-share opportunities that pay per acre to help mitigate costs:
Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s Water Quality Initiative offers $10 per acre to farmers implementing no-till or strip-till
Soil and Water Outcomes Fund offers incentives for implementing new or expanded on-farm conservation practices that produce environmental outcomes, with enrolled farmers earning $33 per acre on average in 2023
NRCS’s Regional Conservation Partnership and Environmental Quality Incentives Programs offer technical and financial assistance
Cost Share Hub
Detangling cost share programs
There are millions of dollars and dozens of programs available to pay farmers for cover crops, wetlands, prairie, and more. With our tools, it doesn’t have to be confusing or overwhelming! We created a hub to learn about cost sharing and a web tool at costsharecompare.com to filter and compare cover crop programs.
Getting Started
We recommend working with your local USDA office and other experts to explore implementing different tilling practices in your fields.
More Resources
Here are more helpful resources on no-till and strip-till:
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach breaks down the main considerations for making important tillage decisions.
Practical Farmers of Iowa No-till vs. Strip-till provides real-life results from farmers experimenting with different tilling practices.
UNL Crop Watch gives five reasons why strip-till might be best for your fields