Good ploughing: minimum tillage

Press, 20 July 1979, Page 7

Good ploughing: minimum tillage

Two weeks ago on these pages there was an item on direct drilling or minimum tillage, which involves the introduction of rop or pasture seeds direct into the soil withut preparatory cultivaion and following the use jf a chemical to check existing growth. One of the attractive features of the procedure in the current situation is the saving of scarce and ever more expensive fuel. At Outrani near Dunedin earlier this month traditional cultivation was very much to the fore. It was the occasion of the national ploughing championships. Among those present was Mr Alfred Hall, who •has been secretary of the World Ploughing Organisation since its inception. In the face of claims about minimum tillage, he retorted that good ploughing, such as seen in national and similar contests, was indeed minimum tillage, in that after working with the harrows the soil would be ready for the introduction of the seed.

However, Mr Hall agreed that there would be places or conditions under which direct drilling could be done, just as in other conditions it would be necessary to plough. However, he added that more ploughs were being sold today than ever before, and in plough building he noted a change in recent times with manufacturers no longer presenting ploughmen with an instrument- that they thought would be best for the purpose; they were now seeking to build ploughs to the requirements of the top ploughmen in the field. In Morocco, one of the countries which is interested in taking part in international ploughing, Mr Hall said that in the stony terrain the primitive ploughs used were of a design that resulted in them pushing aside the boulders — these old ploughs are drawn by dromedaries with an ass being used to do the guiding.