Evaluating Tarps to Terminate Cover Crops and Reduce Tillage
Project Lead
Dr. Sean Smukler, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Biology and Soil Science, Sustainable Agriculture Landscapes Lab, Faculty of Land and Food Systems (PI)
Emma Yates, UBC Graduate Student, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Funding
Farm Adaptation Innovator Program (FAIP)
About the Project
The current cover crop termination methods include ploughing, disking, and tillage. Tillage is known to negatively impact soil health. This project will evaluate the impacts of using silage tarps as an alternative to intensive tillage. They will use different field preparations (including the controlled tillage method) to determine the difference in soil health, soil moisture, and crop yield. If successful the use of silage tarps could bring new sustainable methods to the UBC farms cover crop termination standards and could help improve farmers’ capacity to adapt to the changing climate by improving soil resiliency and increasing crop yields.
Research Questions:
- How does the use of tarps to terminate cover crops affect spring soil moisture and cover crop decomposition timing?
- Does a reduction in soil disturbance using tarps lead to higher soil meso-, macro-, and megafauna abundance and diversity and other indicators of soil health?
- How does the use of tarps for termination impact subsequent nitrogen availability, weed cover, and crop yields?