Being Hung by the Tongue: How Tillage Language Shapes Soil Outcomes
- Apr 13
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Editor’s Note
Over the past several months, Jim Martindale and I have been engaged in an ongoing conversation around the merits, limitations, and underlying assumptions of tillage and no-till systems. What began as a private exchange has grown into something we felt was worth sharing more broadly—not as a debate to be won, but as a conversation to be explored. Jim’s piece below reflects his perspective, particularly his concerns around how terminology and tool definitions shape decision-making in agriculture.
We are grateful for his willingness to engage candidly on these questions.
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by Jim Martindale, Guest Writer
When “Vertical Tillage” Meant Something Specific
Is anybody else as frustrated at the terminology about tillage and non-tillage as I am? To my point, which may come with advancing years in life, I remember when the subsoiling always resulted in the necessity to perform some kind of secondary tillage. When Ray Rawson created the Zone Builder subsoiler, which didn’t require additional tillage for a plantable surface, it earned new terminology. It became known as vertical tillage. There were other characteristic results associated with vertical tillage as well. They included largely undisturbed root systems and lack of mixing of the soil profile. For clarity, when I refer to ‘vertical tillage,’ I’m referencing the original Rawson-style concept—minimal horizontal disturbance—not the disc-like VT tools commonly marketed today.
How the Marketplace Blurred the Meaning of Vertical Tillage
Today the marketplace presents vertical tillage machines (popularly called VTs) that for all the world resemble a disc. The proliferation of differing labels has unintentionally clouded the concept of vertical tillage, making it harder for farmers to evaluate tools based on what they actually do to soil. I’m reminded of a request made of me almost two decades ago by a notable soil scientist to present a coherent definition of tillage to an international gathering of fellow soil scientists. It never happened because he was outvoted by the rest of the program committee.
What Root Systems Reveal About Tillage, Temperature, and Soil Function
This very old study done at Purdue University (table below) pointed quite clearly to the differences that types of tillage and no-tillage have on root system architecture in corn plants.
The study cited (chart below) indicates that cooler soil temperatures during the root system development will result in root system distributions resembling no-till. Research and practical on-farm experience have consistently shown slower increases in soil temperatures in no-till managed soils.
Taken from http://www.kingcorn.org/
So if we were to only look at root system development, we can begin to see the significance of the type of management of soil through tillage or absence thereof has on a crop like corn, and likely most other plants as well. These findings suggest that root architecture can be influenced by both soil disturbance and soil temperature, so similar root patterns can arise from different management conditions. There are also secondary or resulting collateral conditions that impact the biochemical makeup of the rhizosphere. These influences of soil density and biochemical influences deserve a much deeper dive.
Distorting the Lexicon of Tillage Tools
By distorting the lexicon of tillage tools, we run a greater risk of making poorer choices, which can have serious negative impacts on plant performance. Shouldn’t the descriptor of a machine tell us something that reveals what it does to soil in its several aspects? Hasn’t the continued lack of a meaningful and coherent definition of what tillage of any kind or absence of tillage is really been impacting decision-making in stewarding our soil? Is it really as simple as what kind of a seedbed we have to plant into? Clear, shared definitions could help producers choose tools based on soil function—root development, aggregate development, gas exchange, and temperature gradient—rather than on terminology alone.
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In the next post, we’ll offer a response to Jim’s reflections—continuing what we hope will be a constructive and ongoing dialogue.
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