[Terrapreta] O tillage

[Nikolaus Foidl]

Dear Jim!

I do not fully agree with the o tillage onset. If you do a real search in
all the literature available and if you grow yourself in the neighborhood of
tillage farmers you will find out that o-tillage is same or slightly less
productive then tillage systems.
For sure 0 tillage is much lower in energy need and so far cheaper( smaller
tractors etc) then tillage. On the other hand 0-tillage cant live without
herbicides and its kind of pervert to promote a 0 tillage system to protect
soil life and on the other hand kill the soil life thoroughly by applying
herbicides. If you apply herbicides ( and it does not matter much which one
or which combo) the first you kill is the chlorophyll bearing bacteria (
cyano bacter and algae) which are the the first in a huge food chain of
bacteria, fungi and yeasts and mycorrhizae etc. If you kill now the first in
the chain the whole chain starves to dead, that's why even very " fertile
soil have poor response when it comes to productivity". As long as 0 tillage
implies usage of herbicides we are fighting the devil with Beelzebub.( what
does not make sense to me).
I myself am working on a 24.000 ha Farm with culture rotation ( 3 plantings
a year), 0 tillage etc. We as well are doing since 2 years trials with
charcoal on top, buried in chunks, milled and buried, charged with micro and
macronutrients etc. but so far significant differences are seen only with
the adding or charging of micro and macronutrients and the adding of bio
life boosters ( melazza,lemonjuice,and trichoderma, mycorrhizae etc)
Charcoal alone up to 40 tons per ha did not get significant results in maize
, Soya or sunflower ( first year, we will see in the following years if
there are measurable changes in the same area).
 All results point us to restore as quick as possible soil life and if
possible in its multitude of different bacteria, fungi, mycorrhizae and
yeasts and not only some few special strains of trichoderma or mycorrhizae,
Tell us as well that the lost or suppressed fertility is not a mineral
dependent issue its a availability issue and that's where bio life comes in
to action again. 
All those microbes move and liberate and take out of un soluble mineral
complexes huge amount of ions and render them available for plants as well
they produce tons of proteins ( enzymes) and growth promoting hormones and
protecting complex organic molecules ( different acids like salicylic acid
etc) protecting the rhizospere  being sequestered by malicious fungi or
bacteria. They form aggregates using organic molecules with electric charges
allowing water to penetrate and air to penetrate etc.
So saying all this we have to stop to look for one golden bullet which
solves all, its much , much more complex what's going on below the surface.
We grow still today some grains or fruits despite our very clumsy and not
very intelligent approach to agriculture and not because we now how to grow.
( nature still is strong and forgiving towards all the horror we bring about
the existing live on earth)

Please dont expect too much from charcoal in soil it is just one small part
of bigger set of possible improvements and start to think more critical
about all the holy cows we have in agriculture ( 0 tillage, etc)

Best regards Nikolaus