With recent dust storms sweeping across the state, Illinois farmers are again coming under scrutiny for the agricultural practices that can contribute to these storms. With high winds, dry conditions, and spring tillage and planting loosening the soil, it was a perfect storm to create the conditions seen last week. Tillage is a hot topic right now, with many growers making the transition to low or no-till systems. This blog post will dive into tillage and how minimizing it can lead to both environmental benefits and increased farm profitability.
Tillage: What is it and why do we do it?
Tillage is the mechanical manipulation of the soil for any purpose. Farmers typically are tilling the soil to help manage and break down crop residue, incorporate amendments, control weeds, break up surface compaction, and (most commonly) to prepare the seedbed for planting. Most tillage in Illinois happens in the spring prior to planting, but some growers will opt for a fall tillage pass as well, though this is becoming less common.
Historically, the equipment we associate most with tillage is the moldboard plow. This is what your great grandparents or grandparents would have used. The moldboard plow was a very heavy and aggressive tillage method, as it would cut the soil, lift it, and flip it upside down. In the last 50 years growers have moved towards less aggressive tillage methods, like the chisel plow and vertical tillage (VT). Vertical tillage is currently the shallowest and least intensive tillage method available to growers. Now farmers are also able to more easily control the depth they are tilling to, with VT only lightly tilling the top 1-4 inches of soil, compared to the moldboard plow’s 8-12 inch depth.
In recent years there has been a growing interest in no-till, which is not doing any tillage passes. The goal of no-till is to minimize soil disturbance as much as possible, which can have many benefits to the health of soils. Reducing or eliminating tillage can help improve water infiltration, improve soil aggregation, and reduce erosion – which each contribute to the overall health of a soil.
No-till can be a difficult transition for growers that are used to relying on tillage for residue manage and seed-bed preparation. No-till planters and grain drills do include some implements that can help manage residue and improve seed-to-soil contact, but this is specialized equipment that not every operation may be using or have access to. The USDA estimates that continuous no-till as only been adopted in 21% of cultivated cropland in the United States, but Illinois does have slightly higher rates of adoption. Data collected by Precision Conservation Management between 2015 and 2019, showed that in Illinois 45% of soybean fields were no-till. This brings up an important caveat to the no-till movement—it does not work the same with all crops. No-till is becoming increasingly common with soybeans but is much more challenging to make work with corn. Corn requires many special management considerations when moving to a no-till system, which is not something every farmer will be willing or able to contend with. This guide from Purdue University Extension provides some helpful tips for growers wanting to make this transition.
How can reducing tillage make my farm more profitable?
As the recent dust storms have shown, soil erosion is a huge reason to cut back on tillage. Soil is susceptible to erosion from both wind and water. It is estimated that 5 tons/acre or 0.5% of soil is lost per year to erosion. This may not sound like much, but if we were to pay to replace that soil it would have massive costs. Top soil averages $50/yard, which would make replacing that 5 tons that is lost each year cost over $250/acre. For reference, the average cash rent in Illinois in 2024 was $277/acre. Replacing the soil lost to erosion each year would be like paying cash rent twice.
But the cost of the soil lost to erosion is not the only cost associated with tillage. It also costs money to run the equipment to actually make the tillage passes. Depending on the machinery used, a tillage pass can cost anywhere from $10/acre (field cultivator) to nearly $40/acre (moldboard plow). Data collected by Precision Conservation Management between 2018 and 2023, showed that in Illinois the top 25% most profitable fields were using no-till with soybeans (60%) and no-till to 1 pass of light tillage with corn (68%).
Factoring in both the costs of saving your soil from erosion and reduced machinery costs, it is clear that one of the keys to farm profitability is reducing tillage. With low to negative returns seen in 2024, reducing costs wherever possible will help farms stay afloat and increase their long-term profitability.
To learn more about dust storms and how farmers can help prevent them, check out the following blog posts:
- Farm Focus: Taming the dust: Proven practices to combat erosion and dust storms in Central Illinois, Part 1 and Part 2
- Illinois Extension News: Dust storms in Illinois: Examing roles of weather and farming practices; Dust storms in Illinois: Identifying farm solutions
Emily Hansen is a Commercial Agriculture Educator with University of Illinois Extension, serving Bureau, LaSalle, Marshall, and Putnam counties. Emily provides research-based educational programs that empower growers to make sustainable choices on their farms.