2004 Year in Review

Erosion rates have leveled off

No-till soybean acres continue to increase in Illinois, while no-till corn has dropped off slightly, and erosion rates have leveled off. Some form of conservation tillage (either no-till or mulch-till) is being used on two-thirds of Illinois soybean acreage, a dramatic increase over the past 10 years.

These are some of the key points from the 10th statewide Soil Conservation Transect Survey, conducted by the Illinois Department of Agriculture and Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

The ultimate goal of conservation tillage is to bring soil erosion on as much farmland as possible below “T”, or the tolerable soil loss level. When soil erosion is kept at or below T, soil is being replenished as quickly as it is being lost. For most soil types, tolerable soil loss is between three and five tons per acre per year.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the highlights from the 2004 Transect Survey in Illinois.

- Nearly 85 percent of the points surveyed were at or below T, up from 74 percent in 1994, the first year of the Transect Survey.
- Illinois continues to lead the nation in total no-till acres with 6.7 million.
- 45.6 percent of all soybean acres are planted no-till.
- No-till corn acreage dropped from 16.9 percent in 2002 to 14.9 percent in 2004.
- Mulch-till corn (some tillage is preformed but there is at least 30 percent residue left on the soil surface) rose to 12 percent in 2004, up from 10.7 percent in 2002.
- In 2004, 46.4 percent of all fields surveyed had residue amounts greater than 30 percent, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from 2002 and 14 percentage points from 1994.

The above information was taken from the Land and Water fact sheet titled Illinois Erosion & Tillage Trends, revised November 2004, and published by University of Illinois. Further information is available at Extension and Soil and Water Conservation District offices.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
December 14, 2004