Different Methods of Field Management in Limiting the Amount of Soil Erosion.

Soil erosion is a major concern that crop farmers face every year.  Without fertile soil, farmers wouldn’t be able to raise any crops, the world population would starve, and the earth would become a big desert.  Proper management of such a valuable resource is critical.  The objective of this experiment was to determine if different management methods affect the amount of soil erosion occurring in a field where corn silage has been harvested.  It was hypothesized that if the effectiveness of each management method in limiting soil erosion was measured, then the no till with a cover crop method would have the least amount of soil erosion.  First, four typical management methods without a cover crop and the same four methods with a cover crop for a field where corn silage had been harvested were determined and labeled.  Then, four typical fields were created and then labeled.  The field management methods and the fields were then entered into the RUSLE2 program.  The methods were then applied to each field.  The data was then gathered, and a statistical analysis as well as a graphical analysis was performed on the data.  After performing an ANOVA test, it was found that there was no statistical difference between the different methods.  There was no statistical difference because the sample size was small which increased the standard deviation.  However, there was a considerable difference graphically between the no till with a cover crop method and the rest of the methods because it had the lowest amount of soil loss.  From these results, practicing no-till or minimum tillage methods in conjunction with no-till planters and drills that can plant into crop residue from the previous year or cover crop will minimize soil loss.