Practical No-Till Farming

A Quick and Dirty Guide to Organic Vegetable and Flower Growing

Andrew Mefferd (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

240 Seiten

2022
New Society Publishers (Verlag)
978-0-86571-966-8 (ISBN)

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Practical No-Till Farming is the ultimate guide to getting started with organic no-till growing methods. Coverage includes pros and cons of different no-till methods, customizing no-till for your farm, detailed how-to for each method, relative costs, handling pernicious weeds, and boosting soil health and crop yield.

Do less, produce more, and grow soil that feeds crops using chemical-free, organic no-till methods

Andrew Mefferd, veteran farmer, author of The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution, and editor of Growing for Market magazine, brings you the ultimate guide to getting started with no-till farming.

Yet there are many ways to do no-till, including mulching with compost, cardboard, straw, silage tarps, and more. Plus plenty of conflicting advice on how to get started.

Practical No-Till Farming is here to help, sorting the wheat from the chaff and the horse manure from the plastic mulch. Coverage includes:

How to assess your farm for no-till options considering climate, soil, and crop selection
Assessment of common no-till methods, including pros and cons, materials, and the relative costs
A decision-making matrix for choosing the most appropriate methods for your context
How-to for each no-till method, including what to do and when
Dealing with bindweed, symphylans, and other difficult weeds and pests
Maximizing productivity of no-till beds
Special coverage of both organic vegetable and flower no-till market farming

Ideal for small-scale growers everywhere, Andrew Mefferd, veteran farmer, author of The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution, and editor of Growing for Market magazine, brings you the ultimate guide to getting started with no-till farming.

Andrew Mefferd is the editor of Growing for Market magazine and author of The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution and The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower's Handbook. He spent seven years in the research department at Johnny's Selected Seeds, traveling internationally consulting with researchers and farmers on the best practices in organic farming. Before that he worked on the research farm at Virginia Tech, doing field work researching how organic no-till vegetable production compared to tilled organic production. He has worked on farms in Pennsylvania, California, Washington State, Virginia, Maine, and New York State. He now farms in Cornville, Maine.

Part 1: The Why of No-Till

INTRODUCTION

   Who This Book Is For

   Tilling Was Once the Only Answer

   Enthusiasm and Skepticism for No-Till

   Becoming a No-Till Farmer

   Defining No-Till: What Counts as Tillage Anyway?

   New Adaptation for Old Methods

   The Promise of No-Till

THE POWER OF THE SOIL

  Putting a Face on the Soil

   Soil: Where the Microbe Magic Happens

   Taking Care of Our Livestock

   Soil Life Drives the Success of No-Till Systems

   Soil Testing

   Healthy Soil Can Lead to Healthier Farmers

FARM SIZE

   Farming as a Career

NO-TILL: A GATEWAY METHOD

   Evolution of Your Farm

   Small Can Be Beautiful

NO-TILL VS. TILLAGE

   Tillage: The Agricultural Reset Button

   Tillage: An Ancient Practice We Might Want to Avoid

THE DISADVANTAGES OF TILLING

  Breakdown in the Nutrient Cycle

   Weeds

   Hard Work and Time-Consuming

   Physical, Chemical, and Biological Disadvantages

THE ADVANTAGES OF NO-TILL

   Advantages for the Environment

   Fungus: The Perennial Roots of the Soil

   Soil and Water Can Do Their Jobs

   Increase in Organic Matter

   Advantages for Growers

THE DISADVANTAGES OF NO-TILL

   Fields Are Slower to Warm in Spring

   Systems Can Take Some Time to Become Established

   Some Methods Are Hard to Scale Up

   Some Pests Can Flourish in High Residue

   Perennial Weeds

Part 2: The How of No-Till

GETTING STARTED: PRINCIPLES, TECHNIQUES, AND TOOLS

   Start with a Soil Test

   Clearing the Deck: Getting the Soil Ready

   Establishing New Fields

   Sod Bustin', No-Till Style

   Reduce the Weed Seed Bank First

TARPING

   Occultation

   Solarization

   Tarp Timing

   Decomposition Rates

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MULCHES

   Non-Decomposing Mulches

   Applied Organic Mulches

MULCH GROWN IN PLACE

   The Roller/Crimper Method

   Roller/Crimper Cons

   Winter-Killed Cover Mulch Crops

   Planting through a Cover Crop Mulch

   Which Crops Work Best in the Roller/Crimper System?

GETTING STARTED AND CROPPING STRATEGIES

   Composting in Place

   Compost as Mulch

   Ways to Improve Land and Exhaust the Weed Seed Bank

CROPS TO FOCUS ON

GOING FROM CROP TO CROP

   Dealing with Residue

   Planting

   Flowers in No-Till

CASE STUDY: GROWING HEMP

APPENDIX

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Erscheinungsdatum	27.10.2022
Zusatzinfo	100 Halftones, color
Verlagsort	Gabriola Island
Sprache	englisch
Maße	229 x 191 mm
Gewicht	576 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Garten
	Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Botanik
	Weitere Fachgebiete ► Land- / Forstwirtschaft / Fischerei
ISBN-10	0-86571-966-7 / 0865719667
ISBN-13	978-0-86571-966-8 / 9780865719668
Zustand	Neuware