Improving air quality with no-till cropping July 6, 2012 11:00
AM These findings could help Pacific Northwest farmers reduce
erosion from their fields and assist communities in complying
with federal air quality regulations. Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) research leader Brenton Sharratt and ARS
agronomist Frank Young conducted this research, which supports
the USDA priorities of promoting international food security and
responding to climate change. ARS is USDA's chief scientific
research agency. Both scientists work at the ARS Land Management
and Water Conservation Research Unit in Pullman, Wash. Farmers
in the inland Pacific Northwest favor winter wheat-summer fallow
production systems so that crops can germinate and grow during
late summer and fall. But controlling weeds and conserving soil
water during the summer can require up to eight tillage passes.
This produces a dry, loose layer of fine soil particles that can
be easily eroded by strong summer winds. Sharratt and Young
conducted an 11-year stu