Weeds and crop yields under conservation tillage in organic farming.

Summary

Conservation tillage in conventional agriculture tends to make the cropping systems more dependent on herbicides. Organic farming principles could solve this problem. However, direct drilling under a cover crop in organic farming remains difficult. We need innovative techniques, such as knife roller and adapted cover crops. Reduced tillage is possible if weeds are well controlled with mechanical tools, such as hoeing for spring crops, i.e. maize in 2005 and soybean in 2006 (site A). If though weed infestation increases during one year, it will be difficult to control it in subsequent crops in case of reduced tillage.