Takeaways
- Long-term Ohio studies (60 years) indicate no-till and cover crops used together have significant benefits.
- Both no-till and reduced tillage dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Data from an Ohio farm that has been continuously no-tilled since 1971 shows numerous benefits of seeding cereal rye as a cover crop.
- Farmers and educators need to design more resilient and sustainable cropping systems tailored to local environmental and economic conditions.
- No-till effectively balances soil air-water conditions at higher moisture levels despite initial compaction, underscoring its potential waterlogging resistance.
- Tillage radish seeded as a cover crop increased soil organic matter, soil phosphorus test and microbial biomass.
Sixty years of crop diversification with perennials improves yields more than no-tillage in Ohio grain cropping systems
Santos, A de C., Culman, S.W. & Deiss, L. 2025. Field Crops Research. 331. Article 109993. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2025.109993
This is another report for a long-term experiment (60 years) from the Triplett Van-Doren No-Tillage and Crop Rotation Experiment established in 1962 in Wooster, Ohio, that was designed to evaluate the impact of no-tillage and crop rotation on corn and soybean yields.
This experiment is conducted on two contrasting soils, one well-drained and one poorly drained. There were 3 tillage practices; moldboard, chisel and no-till with the residue from the previous crop left in the field and 3 rotations; continuous maize, a 2-year maize-soybean, and a 3-year maize-forage-forage.
Crop rotation was the main driver of long-term crop performance, with the most favorable responses observed when forage crops were included in the cropping system at both sites. Note the forage crops contained mixtures with legumes.
The paper contains a lot of interesting data. They conclude that "By evaluating long-term trends, we found that no-tillage can be viable even in clay soils under temperate climates when perennial crops are included in the rotation system. Our results demonstrate that long-term crop yields can significantly benefit from the implementation of both practices adopted together in cropping systems."
Conservation Tillage Practices on GHG Emissions, Soil Health and Overall Agricultural Sustainability
Srivastava, R.K. 2025. Soil Use and Management. 41 (2) Article e70096. https://doi.org/10.1111/sum.70096
Tillage practices have been used by farmers for centuries to prepare soil, manage residues, and control weeds but with consequences for soil health and soil degradation.
This global review critically examines and synthesizes current research on the impact of various tillage practices like conventional (CT), reduced (RT), and no-till (NT) tillage systems on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), soil health and agricultural sustainability from scientific papers written on this subject.
Some results presented show that CT increases C02 emissions through soil disturbance and oxidation of organic matter, while RT and NT reduce C02 and mitigate N20 and CH4 emissions. NT also enhances water retention and thus drought stress.
The author concludes that “RT and NT practices emerge as pivotal strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and advancing agricultural sustainability through improved soil health and water retention.”
Long-term continuous no-till corn-soybean systems: Examining soil carbon sequestration and nitrogen accumulation across various pools
Khosa, M.K., Barik, K., Aksakal, E., Jahangir, Md MR., Didenko, N.O. & Islam, K.R. 2025. Plos One. 20 (5) Article e0322891. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322891
This paper presents some of the data from a family farm in Ohio, one of the oldest continuous NT and cover crops adapted farms in Ohio since 1971.
The objective of the study was to assess the effects of no-till (NT) management over 0, 6, 20, and 35 years in a rainfed corn-soybean system, incorporating cereal rye as a cover crop, on soil organic C (SOC) sequestration and total N accumulation across different pools.
The results show a significant increase under NT compared to conventional for SOC, total N, microbial biomass C, active C, passive C, particulate organic C and N.
They conclude that “long-term NT consistently facilitates SOC sequestration and total N accumulation in different pools, with these benefits distributed non-linearly across distinct SOC and total N pools at the 0-15 cm depth and linearly at the 15-30 cm depth in rainfed corn-soybean systems."
Assessing the agricultural, environmental, and economic effects of crop diversity management: A comprehensive review on crop rotation and cover crop practices.
de Andrade, H.A.F., Sagrilo, E., de Oliveira, Jr., J.O.L., de Sousa, D.C., Costa, C.P.M., Costa, P.M., Araujo Neto, R.B. et al. (6 more) 2025. Agronomy-Basel 15 (5) Article 1083. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15051083
This interesting paper reviews through 150 peer-reviewed studies published from 2013-2024 the impacts of rotation and cover crops, the former an important pillar of CA and the latter a valuable addition to CA for weed control and providing surface mulch when it is possible to include.
They identified papers that identified impacts by monitoring and modeling. Results show that rotation can increase yields, enhance soil moisture retention, fertility and mitigate pest, weed, and disease pressures while improving environmental sustainability.
The paper also reviews modeling frameworks to simulate rotation practices. The paper discusses agricultural effects, environmental and soil health impacts, modeling and monitoring approaches, and limitations and future research directions.
They conclude that “these insights provide actionable guidance for farmers, extension agents, and policymakers to design more resilient and sustainable cropping systems tailored to local environmental and economic conditions.
Cover Crops Optimize Soil Fertility and Soybean Productivity in the Cerrado of MATOPIBA, Brazil.
Tan, J., Si, B., Zhao, Y., Lu, Y., Chen, Y., An, N., Li, S., Wang, W., Fu. H., Han, W. & Yi, Y. 2025. Soil and Tillage Research. 253. Article 106677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2025.106677
This paper from Brazil looks at the role of cover crops to improve soil fertility, plant nutrition and soybean yield in the Cerrado area in a dryland area. There were 8 cover crops, and fallow preceding soybeans grown in the off-season.
This area had cultivated soybeans under no-till for 10 years. They measured the biomass of the cover crops, but also soil chemical and biological properties, soybean foliar nutrients, yield and quality. Data can be found in the paper and abstract.
They concluded that “Cover crops improved soil fertility while increasing soybean productivity, thus being an effective strategy for the achievement of sustainable soybean production.”
Short-term no-tillage improves soil water retention and maintains soil aeration at high moisture conditions despite reduced macroporosity
Tan, J., Si, B., Zhao, Y., Lu, Y., Chen, Y., An, N., Li, S., Wang, W., Fu. H., Han, W. & Yi, Y. 2025. Soil and Tillage Research. 253. Article 106677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2025.106677
This article from China starts by saying short term no-till increases bulk density, reduces total porosity and microporosity that affects aeration. Their goal was to see if over time NT can overcome these negative effects.
They used a 4-year field experiment that used rotary tillage (RT), subsoiling (SS) and NT and evaluated soil gas diffusivity and water retention across a range of soil matric potential. They used undisturbed soil samples (0-40 cm depth) using X-ray Computed Tomography (X-ray CT) to characterize pore structure.
Results showed that NT reduced total soil porosity and macroporosity in the upper 30 cm compared to RT and SS but increased plant-available water content. NT also maintained higher gas diffusivity under wet conditions by forming irregular-shaped pore networks that increased specific diffusivity compared to RT and SS.
They conclude that “NT effectively balances soil air-water conditions at higher moisture levels despite initial compaction, underscoring its potential waterlogging resistance.
Tillage Radish as Cover Crop Improves Soil Health Indicators Depending on Pedoclimatic Conditions.
Pescatore, A., Delgado, A., Orlandini, S., Vergari, D. & Napoli, M. 2025. Soil Use and Management. 41 (2) Article e70089. https://doi.org/10.1111/sum.70089
This paper from Italy looks at using tillage radish (TR) in place of fallow to see if it improves soil health. The studied the effects of this cover crop on soil health indicators related to C, N and P cycling in two different climatic conditions using CA practices.
Biomass and P uptake by the TR were higher in one site than the other that also had higher levels of SOC in the top layer of soil. TR increased SOC, labile organic C, soil P test, and microbial biomass C, N, and P, but amounts varied by location.
They conclude that “TR’s positive effects on some soil health indicators related to relevant ecosystem services, particularly C storage, microbial biomass, P mobilization and recycling, and N balance, with site-specific variations depending on pedoclimatic conditions.
