Minimum / Ecological / Conservation Tillage / Min Till

Apart from reducing costs, minimum tillage systems will give the added extremely important benefit of improving soils. Some soils in the UK contain less than 1% organic matter, which is not a healthy situation, by reducing tillage this can be improved relatively quickly. Under good management this can be increased to 2.5% which activates the micro organisms and increases the earthworm population dramatically. You now have a positively active soil working for you ie. unlocking some of the nutrients and making them feely available to the crop in a more balanced form.

When you consider that these benefits are freely available to you and at the same time you are saving money and time on tillage, you cannot afford to ignore the benefits. Ploughing costs between £28 -£35 / hectare and takes nearly 1 man hour per hectare, add to this power harrowing which costs £23 / hectare and over 1.1 man hours per hectare (without considering wear and tear on top). Then take into account the damage done to soil structures and, couple this to time lost and the costs, consider the limited time you have available due to the weather constraints, and you have a very compelling argument to reduce tillage.

The sooner you can work the soil behind the combine the easier it will be, there is generally some moisture about and the crop roots and earthworms etc. have left the soil friable and perhaps at its easiest to work. Time is always at a premium at this time of year, so the faster you can complete the task the better. Working the surface with skill rather than deep cultivating for appearances or for traditional reasons will not only improve soils but also speed things up. Where possible shallow discing is preferable to heavy discing, and the same applies to tine cultivators - in their case more tines rather than deep. Firm pressing soon after the cultivation will leave the soil more weather proof and easier to drill, especially important in adverse weather conditions.

You now have created a "stale seed bed" which is ideal to drill into, certainly for the Moore Unidrill which can handle the high volumes of residue produced on 10 tonne/hectare plus crops.

The 16.6 cm spacing between staggered disc/coulters allows the trash to flow though and avoids build up and bulldozing. The firm pressing after cultivation has left a seed bed which the disc can cut against and reduce - if not prevent - hair pinning. This technique gives many benefits: drilling is fast, shallow cultivation will have activated weed germination and chitting which can be sprayed off and the Moore Drill only works a narrow seedling strip which does not create a subsequent flush of weeds across the whole soil profile. Stale seedbeds, due to less cultivation, will retain moisture in a dry period, while at the same time the surface will "haze off" quicker after rain and the Moore Drilling System will run smoother than other drills requiring combined cultivation. Reduced cultivation allows the 4 metre Moore to drill at 3.3ha/hour, where as a combination of the same size will battle to achieve 1.2 ha/hour (in heavy soils) and substantially more tillage would be required.

Some points to consider are: residue management with or behind the combine must be efficient and effective, if the straw can not be baled then stubble length can be left longer to enable the combine to cope with the reduced straw volume which in turn means better chopping and spreading. Effective mixing of the residue with the topsoil pays dividends. "Stale seedbeds" improve weed and volunteer chitting which dramatically improves spraying efficacy and ensures cleaner crops. Firm pressing leaves the soil weather proof and easier, and more readily drilled after a wet period. When this firm seed bed is coupled with the Moore heavy press wheel the seed is placed into a firmed furrow this is the most slug proof any mechanical system can produce, with the best seed/soil contact resulting in quick, disease free germination in dry trashy conditions.