La Junquera Farm’s Post

The impact of tillage on soil infiltration rates in dryland farming is crucial for understanding regenerative practices. During the recent Regeneration Academy crash course, we conducted a revealing experiment to showcase this effect on our farm La Junquera Farm and a neighbouring field. In Picture 1, depicting an almond field left untilled for 7 years, the infiltration time was remarkably swift at only 1 minute, with a compaction layer identified at 60cm depth. Contrastingly, Picture 2 illustrates an almond field featuring vegetation strips and minimal tillage twice a year. Here, the infiltration time in the vegetation strip extended to 1.5 minutes, with a compaction layer detected at 40cm depth. The most striking contrast emerged in Picture 3, showcasing an almond field subjected to intensive tillage 8 times annually. In this scenario, the infiltration time dramatically increased to 15 minutes, with a compaction layer forming at a mere 20cm depth. These visual representations underscore the impact of tillage frequency on soil health and water infiltration rates, emphasizing the importance of adopting minimum tillage practices and vegetation strips and ground cover in dryland farming for long-term agricultural viability. #groundcover #SustainableFarming #SoilHealth #murcia #CAP #soilmission #minimumtillage #regenerative