ABSTRACT
The a p p l i c a t i o n o f v a r i o u s forms o f t i l l a g e p r a t i c e s (Table 1) d u r i n g c r o p p r o d u c t i o n i s r a p i d l y expanding i n t h e U n i t e d States. I n 1985, 31% o f t h e t o t a l c rop land was p l a n t e d u s i n g c o n s e r v a t i o n t i l l a g e (CT) p r a c t i c e s , r e p r e s e n t i n g a 2% inc rease over 1984 f i g u r e s (CTIC, 1986). P r o j e c t i o n s f o r t h e year 2010 i n d i c a t e approx imate ly 95% o f a l l c rop land i n t h e U n i t e d S ta tes w i l l be under some form o f CT (Myers, 1983). The s h i f t f rom conven t iona l t i l l a g e (CnT) t o CT p r a c t i c e s has been spur red by fa rmers ' awareness t h a t CT i s h i g h l y e f f e c t i v e i n c o n t r o l l i n g e r o s i o n and t h e d e s i r e t o boos t n e t p r o f i t by reduc ing f u e l and l a b o r c o s t s (Ladewig and Garibay, 1983).
