No-till is a method of farming where stubble is left on the surface while seeds are planted through the stubble. It supposedly reduces erosion, so the government subsidizes it; and it supposedly reduces carbon dioxide emitted into the air through decay, so money changers buy and sell carbon credits for it.

No-till seldom reduces erosion. With row crops like corn, the crop itself produces more of an erosion problem than the tillage, because there's nothing between the stalks. Proper tillage reduces erosion by mixing the debris into the surface.

No-till is only an improvement relative to bad farming practices, where the surface is worked into a fine powder. Properly worked ground leaves residues on and near the surface, where decay is more effective and erosion is stopped more effectively than with stubble above the surface.

Ninety percent of the erosion is water erosion, not wind erosion. No-till does not stop water erosion. Tilling the debris into the surface stops water erosion.

Decay is extremely valuable to agriculture. Decay organisms trap nitrogen, as it comes down with the rain being produced by lightning. Otherwise, the nitrogen would evaporate into the air or leach into the subsoil. And decay improves aeration of the ground by mixing fiber with the clay. Aeration is critical for root growth.

But the most significant fact is that the ground needs to be loosened up to promote root penetration. In the hard ground of the Dakotas, deep chiseling will increase yields by a factor of three compared to surface farming, if all else is done right, and sometimes more.

In 1963, I chiseled the ground for 40 acres of oats to a moderate depth of one foot and made enough money to buy a new car. I got 80 bushels per acre and sold the oats for 75¢ per bushel. That’s $2,400. I bought a new car for $2,350. With no-till, I would have gotten little or nothing. The seeds might not have germinated, because hard ground dries fast on the surface due to capillary action. Tillage stops drying through capillary action.

The pretense that no-till keeps carbon dioxide out of the air is nauseating in its fakery. Stubble on the surface decays the next year. So there is only about an eight month delay in the decay. And it is a one time delay. There is nothing that accumulates from year to year. After the eight months, the extra carbon goes into the air. This means that this year, the atmosphere is suffering the carbon that was left on the surface last year. People are already subject to the supposedly negative effects of last years benefits from no-till.

In corn country, no-till will cause refuse to accumulate below the surface, which is bad. It blocks penetration of roots and moisture resulting in lower yields, unless special tillage is used. Lower yields and more work means more carbon dioxide in the air than good farming practices would produce.