How far does your favourite implement move soil?

You can’t always see it, but each implement that runs through soil moves it a certain amount. Soil moving from one area to another, such as from a hilltop to the bottom of slope, is called tillage erosion. You might be surprised to see just how far (and how much) soil moves, depending on implement type and ground speed.

To get a better visual on soil movement, Marla Riekman, land management specialist with Manitoba Agriculture and Curtis Cavers of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada set up a pretty neat demo at the recent Crops-a-palooza event using corn as a bright yellow indicator of just how far soil particles move with different implements and at different speeds.

We even brought out the plough for the tillage erosion demonstration! Come see our live demo of other tillage implements @CROPSAPALOOZA on Wednesday morning. pic.twitter.com/4g2CDS3qAU

— Marla Riekman (@MBsoilsleuth) July 23, 2018

Riekman joins field editor Kelvin Heppner to walk us through each implement type — from disc, to vertical tillage, and more — and the tillage erosion each is responsible for.

Related: 

• Soil sensor allows variable depth tillage
• Going shallow: let’s talk tickle tillage

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