Advancing Strip Tillage for Vegetable Production

Lead Applicant: John Zandstra

Research Priority: Soil Health - Environmental Impacts of Management Practices

Program Type: Special Initiatives

Funding Cycle: 2019/2020

Research Centre: N/A

Research Summary: Strip tillage has been gaining ground in field crop production as an alternative to no-till for farmers interested in reducing tillage and increasing ground cover. However, for vegetable production systems, strip tillage offers an opportunity to increase soil cover, improve soil health and reduce erosion and potential phosphorus losses through erosion while still growing the crop within a tilled strip or soil. Currently it is not a common practice with only a handful of producers trying it. Most growers have significant questions around cover crop/tillage management, basic agronomic management and currently Ontario does not have research data to support that decision making. Also, there is a lack of data that quantifies the benefits of this system, such as improved marketable quality, while dispelling concerns about yield reductions or increased pest pressure.