Project Lead: Anu Rangarajan
Tillage can be a valuable management tool on a vegetable farm but intensive and repeated tillage is hard on soils. We support small to mid-scale vegetable farmers, many using organic practices, in adopting reduced tillage practices on their farm. These practices can take many different forms. Our goal is to integrate reduced tillage with other soil building practices, to foster the growth and viability of vegetable farming in New York and the Northeast.
We work across different tools and practices, fit to the the scale and resources of the farm, and are learning from many innovative farmers leading the way. We conduct applied research to trial new and emerging practices to understand the science behind them while sharing practical lessons learned to support farmers in fitting them into their own operations. We partner with farmers in experimenting on their farm and offer workshops and other training opportunities for farmers to share their methods and ideas with one another. Explore this website to learn more about our research, events, and resources.
Reduced Tillage Resources
Join our email list to hear about new resources as they’re added.
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Farm Stories
By engaging with experienced farmers, we continue to learn how reduced tillage systems are taking shape on…
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Reduced Tillage Webinars
The Cornell Small Farms RT Project has collaborated on a variety of webinars to share results from…
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Strip Tillage
Strip Tillage Home » Projects » Reduced Tillage in Vegetables » Strip Tillage Strip, or zone, tillage…
About Reduced Tillage in Vegetables
Reduced tillage practices minimize soil disturbance with targeted and appropriate tillage based on farm goals. Reduced tillage means less intensity, shallower depth, and less area disturbed, either in the bed, field or across the farm. It can mean less frequent tillage and lead to successful adoption of no-till practices.
Practices take many forms. They may be system-wide, applied across the whole farm, or only fit in a part of the rotation for specific crops. They often maintain the benefits of some tillage for managing weeds, making a better seed bed for crop establishment, or incorporating residues. How they take shape on a farm can depend on farm size and soil characteristics, access to equipment or materials, farm skill sets, and labor availability.
Events
Events
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Annie’s Project Classic: Risk Management for Farm Women
Are you a woman engaged in farming in NYS? Would you like to learn and network with other farm women, and learn how to strengthen your farming operation? Join Cornell Cooperative Extensions of Albany, Allegany, Broome, Schoharie-Otsego, Tioga, and Onondaga counties, for a virtual Annie’s Project this winter as we explore these topics and help […]
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Christmas Tree Farming 101
CCE Albany 24 Martin Road, Voorheesville, NY, United StatesAre you interested in Christmas tree farming but not sure where to start? Are you just starting to grow Christmas trees but not sure if you are on the right track? Join us on July 7 at 6:00 PM at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Albany County for a two-hour workshop designed for beginners. This workshop […]
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Starting Shiitake Mushrooms
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County 377 Schroon River Road, Warrensburg, NY, United StatesCornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County will be holding a “Starting Shiitake Mushrooms” workshop on Friday, July 10, at 3:00 pm. This program is perfect for the very beginner as well as the enthusiast who might want to learn other techniques of raising shiitake mushrooms. There will be a limited number of bolts available for […]
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Postponed – Farm Tour: Small Scale Farrow to Finish
299 Yule Corners Rd, Jordanville, NY 13361 299 Yule Corners Road, Jordanville, New YorkThis event has been postponed. If you are interested in being contacted once the event has been rescheduled, please email Nina Saeli at ns963@cornell.edu. Top Notch Livestock & Meats houses boars, barrows, guilts, and sows to support their farrowing to finish swine operation. This farm tour will focus on the permanent infrastructure and equipment needs […]
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American Ginseng Cultivation: Site Assessment Workshop
2320 Centerline Rd. 2320 Centerline Rd., Varysburg, NY, United StatesGain practical, research-based insights from Tracey Testo and Ashley Schoenborn, Agricultural Educators at CCE Columbia-Greene. With over a decade of experience, they specialize in working with and teaching about this important native crop of New York State. Are you interested in: Exploring alternative forest-based income opportunities? Small-scale ginseng cultivation for personal use? We will focus […]
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Urban Agroforestry Summit
Solar One Environmental Education Center 800 FDR Dr Service Rd East, NY, NY, United StatesLearn and network with urban agroforestry practitioners, service providers and city government partners on ways to scale agroforestry in NYC Join the Cornell Small Farms Program and Harvest New York for the first annual NYC Urban Agroforestry Summit. Begin the day by learning from invited speakers who will explore the evolution, current landscape, and future […]
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Hands-On American Ginseng Site Identification, Management & Planting
The Learning Farm 272 Enfield Falls Road, Ithaca, NY, United StatesContinue learning in the field through a hands-on workshop where participants will explore practical aspects of American ginseng cultivation and forest site assessment. Participants will apply concepts introduced in the previous online session while learning directly from field conditions and peer discussion. Topics include: ● Identifying suitable forest conditions for ginseng cultivation ● Evaluating soil, […]
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Organic Field Day
Rodale Institute 611 Siegfriedale Rd, Kutztown, PA, United StatesJoin Rodale Institute’s researchers and expert staff at our annual Organic Field Day to learn the latest results of our farming trials and visit nearly 20 demonstration stations on our 386-acre experimental farm. Participants will have the opportunity to interact one-on-one with Rodale Institute experts and learn about a wide variety of research and demonstration […]
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Twin Oaks Dairy Silvopasture Walk
Twin Oaks Dairy 3214 State Route 13, Truxton, NY, United StatesJoin us at Twin Oaks Dairy to learn about how they are incorporating trees into their dairy grazing systems (aka silvopasture)! Here’s what you can look forward to: Learn about Twin Oaks’ rotational grazing system Hear about the farm’s motivations for planting trees into pastures, lessons learned, and plans for the future Tour two silvopasture […]
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Spawn, Seedlings, and Silvopasture: Agroforestry at Dilmun Hill
Dilmun Hill Farm 705 Dryden Rd, Ithaca, United StatesJoin us at the Dilmun Hill Student Farm for a field tour of our expanding agroforestry practices. We will walk and talk as we tour our pawpaw orchard with sheep grazing, air pruned raised beds for growing tree seedlings, and log-grown mushroom projects. Hear invited speakers from Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Cornell Small Farms Program, […]
News and Updates
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Join Our Farmer to Farmer “Tarp Talk” Webinars in March
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Tarps are clearly a multifunctional tool for small farmers and are being sized, sourced, and applied to fit the farm. How much can we ask of tarps, how are they changing our tillage and weeds, and how do we handle and troubleshoot the shortcomings? We hosted a series of lunchtime webinars in partnership with the…
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Learn About Soil Health at SFP-Organized Sessions During 2021 Empire State Producers Expo
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Join us on January 12, 2021, to hear farmer experiences and research on cover cropping and no-till practices from around the region during the Soil Health Sessions at the virtual 2021 Empire State Producers Expo. Our own Ryan Maher, the coordinator of our Reduced Tillage project, organized these sessions on soil health, cover crops and…
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In the News: Reduced Tillage Project Partner Named to USDA National Organic Standards Board
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The Cornell Small Farms Program is happy to share the news that Brian Caldwell has been appointed to the USDA National Organic Standards Board, beginning a five-year term in 2021. Brian was a major contributor to the Reduced Tillage project for five years before retiring from Cornell in the spring of 2019. Brian brought decades…
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Reduced Tillage Project Uncovers Tarping Impacts for Organic Vegetable Farmers
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One farmer shared with us in early summer: “If we didn’t have a tarp down before our mixed greens this spring, we would have been in big trouble with our CSA. In our untarped plantings, we lost the crop to weeds. We’re not going to do that again.” Tarps are becoming a versatile tool to…
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In the News: Deep Dive into Compost
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Reduced tillage practices and weed suppression management are common goals of small-scale organic farmers. A lesser-known method is deep-composting, which was presented by the Reduced Tillage Project and a team of Cornell University researchers at the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) Winter Conference as a solution to weed suppression in a reduced tillage system. …
Project Partners
We collaborate with other researchers at Cornell, extension educators within Cornell Cooperative Extension, and other organizations and universities across the Northeast.
About Anu Rangarajan
Anu was appointed director the Cornell Small Farms Program in 2004. At the same time, she opened a U-pick strawberry farm in Freeville, NY. The experience of operating a small farm changed her entire approach to research and extension, and deepened her commitment to NY farms and local food systems.
Read Articles by Anu Rangarajan
Subscribe for Updates and Opportunities
Subscribe to get the latest updates and information on strategies to reduce tillage on your farm. You’ll be first to hear about webinars, field days, and online courses that will connect you with other growers and our research results as we look to find ways to be successful in building soils on your farm.
