Comparison of till and no-till agricultural practices on carbon dioxide flux from the soil on an organic farm

The utilization of no-till or conservational tillage practices is widely considered to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In this study, the effect of till and no-till practices were assessed based on the CO2 flux from the soil on an organic farm located in upstate South Carolina. The measurements were taken over a month long period in late fall. The no-till plot had been recently converted and the till plot had been harvested in the months prior. In addition to studying the CO2 flux, temperature data was recorded for comparison. At temperatures below 45°F, the CO2 flux from the till plot was lower than from the no-till plot. While these findings were helpful, they raised questions. The study was repeated with different comparisons. The plots were compared to ambient outputs, and the results favored the no-till plot. Overall, no-till output of CO2 was lower than the till plot. These findings support the implementation of no-till practices as a method of reducing atmospheric CO2