The others did a real good job on your "plowing 101". I can give you a little of the whys of plowing.
I grew up farming in the 60's and 70's. Really started full time after college in 1976. This was right at the beginning of "Conservation tillage" or "NO-Till". The goal is to form a good seed bed, and get fertilizer down where the roots can feed on it. Plowing, followed by disking and harrowing did this well for decades.
But moldboard plowing is slow, fuel consuming, and leaves the soil unprotected and subject to wind and water erosion. We were loosing too much top soil. Too much to be sustainable. No till farming sought ways to place the seed in a good seedbed, yet not turn over the soil. Moldboard plows almost disappeared by the 80's. Most people in areas with hills or rolling terain have terraces to control erosion, so some of those folks kept an old moldboard plow to "plow up the terraces" every two or three years.
Some disadvantages of not plowing is that residue builds up too much, insect control is more difficult as the residue provides a place for overwintering and eggs. And with no till, cultivation is difficult, if not impossible, so you substitute cultivation with herbicides, which are petroleum based and getting more expensive by the day.
I have seen a recent resurgance of moldboard plowing. I think people who have no tilled continiously for 10-15 years are deciding that an occasional polwing is beneficial, although I have not seen any research or articles to this end.
Erosion can be contolled somewhat when moldboard plowing by plowing on the conture ( not going straight up the hill as the water will go down the furrows), or by plowing in strips and leaving unplowed areas to be plowed the next year.
I never sold my plow. We bought it and the 706 new in 1968 and I just cant bear to part with it.
hope this gives a little insight into why the plow is used.
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Today's Featured Article - Choosin, Mounting and Using a Bush Hog Type Mower - by Francis Robinson. Looking around at my new neighbors, most of whom are city raised and have recently acquired their first mini-farms of five to fifteen acres and also from reading questions ask at various discussion sites on the web it is frighteningly apparent that a great many guys (and a few gals) are learning by trial and error and mostly error how to use a very dangerous piece of farm equipment. It is also very apparent that these folks are getting a lot of very poor and often very dangerous advice fro
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