PRACTICE AND (Ac.) 345 DEFINITION CRITERIA Managing the amount, orientation and General Criteria Applicable to All Purposes distribution of crop and other plant residue on Uniformly distribute residues over the entire the soil surface year round while limiting the field. disturbing activities used to grow and harvest crops in systems where the field surface is tilled Do not burn residues. prior to planting. Additional Criteria to Reduce Sheet and Rill PURPOSE Erosion and Wind Erosion Reduce and rill erosion Determine the required amount of randomly distributed surface residue and allowable Reduce wind erosion amount of surface soil disturbance to maintain erosion within the planned soil loss objective Maintain or improve soil quality using the current approved water and wind Increase plant-available moisture erosion prediction technology. Erosion prediction calculations shall account for the Reduce energy use effects of other practices in the management CONDITIONS APPLIES system. This practice applies to all cropland. Additional Criteria to Maintain or Improve Soil Quality This practice includes tillage methods commonly referred to as mulch tillage, where a majority of An evaluation of the cropping system with the the soil surface is disturbed by tillage operations. current approved Soil Conditioning Index (SCI) Mulch tillage includes vertical tillage, chiseling procedure will result in a positive trend. SCI and disking, and tillage/planting systems with calculations shall account for the effects of other relatively minimal soil disturbance that do not practices in the management system. meet criteria for Residue and Tillage Additional Criteria to Increase Management, No Till/Strip Till/Direct Seed (329). Moisture It applies to stubble mulching on land, and tillage for planting annual and Decrease Evaporation from the Soil Surface perennial crops. Maintain a minimum 60 percent surface residue cover throughout the year. Mulch till also includes some planting operations such as hoe drills, that disturb a large Trap Snow percentage of the soil surface during the Fall tillage operations shall leave crop stubble in planting operation, and cropping systems where an upright position. the majority of surface area is disturbed during harvest operations. Maintain the following crop stubble heights through periods when significant snowfall should
(Ac.) 345 DEFINITION Managing the amount, orientation and distribution of crop and other plant residue on the soil surface year round while limiting the activities used to grow and harvest crops in systems where the field surface is tilled prior to planting. PURPOSE Reduce and rill erosion Reduce wind erosion Maintain or improve soil quality Increase plant-available moisture Reduce energy use CONDITIONS PRACTICE APPLIES This practice applies to all cropland. This practice includes tillage methods commonly referred to as mulch tillage, where a majority of the soil surface is disturbed by tillage operations. Mulch tillage includes vertical tillage, chiseling and disking, and tillage/planting systems with relatively minimal soil disturbance that do not meet criteria for Residue and Tillage Management, No Till/Strip Till/Direct Seed (329). It applies to stubble mulching on land, and tillage for planting annual and perennial crops. Mulch till also includes some planting operations such as hoe drills, that disturb a large percentage of the soil surface during the planting operation, and cropping systems where the majority of surface area is disturbed during harvest operations. CRITERIA General Criteria Applicable to All Purposes Uniformly distribute residues over the entire field. Do not burn residues. Additional Criteria to Reduce Sheet and Rill Erosion and Wind Erosion Determine the required amount of randomly distributed surface residue and allowable amount of surface soil disturbance to maintain erosion within the planned soil loss objective using the current approved water and wind erosion prediction technology. Erosion prediction calculations shall account for the effects of other practices in the management system. Additional Criteria to Maintain or Improve Soil Quality An evaluation of the cropping system with the current approved Soil Conditioning Index (SCI) procedure will result in a positive trend. SCI calculations shall account for the effects of other practices in the management system. Additional Criteria to Increase Moisture Decrease Evaporation from the Soil Surface Maintain a minimum 60 percent surface residue cover throughout the year. Trap Snow Fall tillage operations shall leave crop stubble in an upright position. Maintain the following crop stubble heights through periods when significant snowfall should disturbing AND
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