Evaluation and Quantification of Environmental Sustainability of Tillage Treatments in the Coastal Bend Region of Texas

Food, fiber, and biofuel production are currently limited by factors including climate change and depletion of natural resources. With the world population expected to reach 9 billion over the next 30 years, it is crucial to address these challenges through alternative and efficient production systems that support high productivity while curtailing ecological imbalance. Current management practices in south Texas include winter fallow and repeated tillage, which leaves the soil prone to erosion, reduces water infiltration, and increases runoff. The adoption of more sustainable management practices like conservation tillage could be helpful to decrease greenhouse gas emissions (by increasing soil organic carbon sequestration), increase water infiltration, buffer soil temperature, decrease soil erosion and support microbiome development. The main goal of this project is to demonstrate how conservation tillage can improve farm sustainability compared to conventional tillage practices in the Coastal Bend region of Texas. This study has been conducted at Texas A&M Agrilife Research and Extension Center in Corpus Christi, TX since 2011. Cotton/sorghum rotation plots were established in a split plot design with conservation and conventional tillage practices as sub-plots in a rain-fed field. This year, height data was collected weekly and yield was measured at the end of the season upon harvest. Soil analysis was performed in the fall. The Fieldprint^® calculator was used as an auxiliary tool to quantify sustainability parameters such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, land use, water quality, soil erosion, and soil carbon. Results indicate that conservation tillage not only promotes improvement of farm sustainability, but also increases farm profitability.