Roguejim said:
Wow. I sure appreciate both sides that we're hearing. I'm not totally convinced that "no till" is the way for me to go. I also notice that some people seem more concerned with microbial life than with the final harvest. Pollution aside for the moment, is there any good reason not to plow, and use chemical fertilizers if this method is as effective in producing a bountiful harvest as organic/no till methods?
I don't really understand what you're asking; did you mean "is the a reason not to plow/use chem ferts if this works as well as organic/no till methods?
In general the two can be seen like this:
Commercial, chemical agriculture (or gardening on our scale) is easier to achieve high yields of produce, depending on the studies you believe possibly of equal quality.
Organic, no-till, permaculture, etc are all designed to build up biodiversity in the ecosystem through intentional cultivation techniques. The idea being that the more diversity in the ecosystem (bacterial, fungal, animal, plant, insect, etc), the more resilient it becomes and the more stable it's produce. The problem is it involves more work, for a less aesthetic produce, the produce also becoming regional as different areas will support different food webs necessitating different diets.
In practical terms as a gardener it means: with chem ferts/pesticides it's a minimum of work but you'll be buying them year after year for the rest of your life as your garden becomes dependent on them.
With organics you'll be doing more work, but over the years the garden will to a point reduce issues like fungal/bacterial infections, weeds, etc.
