The adverse effect is not simply on soil, per se, but also on
increased dependence on herbicides - or mechanical cultivation - for
weed control, because widely sown rows of warm-season crops in a cool
spring soil mean a prolonged window of opportunity - in space as well
as in time - for weeds to proliferate. For this reason, we don't see
much corn or soybean on organic farms here. Cereals and perennial
forages predominate instead.
Most crops are "row crops" in that they are sown with some kind of
drill into rows, but narrow row (7") crops like cereals and forages
do not predispose the system to anything like to soil degradation or
herbicide dependence that is implicit in wide row crops. Ann
ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca
Dr. E. Ann Clark
Associate Professor
Crop Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
Phone: 519-824-4120 Ext. 2508
FAX: 519 763-8933