Show plowing aerates soil stimulates reactions lower yields caused by excessive cropping while american farmers have undoubtedly plowed their soil too much in the past the problem of declining crop yields is not due to excessive plowing but to the removal of fertility without returning plant food to the soil according to dr william A albrecht chairman of the soils department of the university of missouri during the importation of the plowing idea and the application of the plowing practice in the united states our ancestors did not recognize their transition to soils that are mainly silt loams coams which demand less plowing than european clay loams coams they failed to appreciate the connection plowing might h have a V e with their movement from regions where rainfall comes regularly in small showers to those where a large share of the rains are torrential rent ial this shift from maritime to continental climate was not appreciated precia ted until much plowing under torrential downpours down pours caused erosion of almost catastrophic magnitude over our most productive areas yes we have plowed too much as our hindsight forcefully tells us but surely our foresight is better than to allow refusal to plow in the future plowing does aerate the soil as any soil microbiologist will testify As a consequence of the change of atmosphere in the soil and because of the stirring by the moldboard mold board plow there is new life the soil is a factory in which much energy is expended it is transforming many substances oxidizing or burning tons of carbon dioxide sulfur to sulfur dioxide ammonia to nitrate and other similar were this performance not proceeding in the soil life on the globe would soon become extinct facts such as these are disregarded as part of the soils contribution to crop production by him who would not plow but continued and excessive cropping without paying back the soils plant food debt reduces the output of the nutrients left over in soluble form by microbial activity N fi 14 ilka FM J ava 71 A rotation grazing increases t the e nutritional value of pasture plants as thicker turf results from using only a small part of pasture area at a time high producing cows have shown increased yield when grazed in this way |