Effects of Conservation Tillage on Water Quality in Southern Texas

When this project was funded, there was tremendous interest in conservation tillage systems in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in which Cameron County is located. Producers needed on-site demonstrations as well as information on the costs and benefits of the systems. The usefulness of tillage alternatives in cotton and grain sorghum had not been previously examined in Cameron County nor had an economic analysis been performed on a management system that integrates reduced tillage practices with weed and insect management practices.

The Cameron County Field Crops Committee conducted field days and outreach on no-till and reduced tillage systems to demonstrate planting into varying amounts and types of residues, split-application of nutrients, weed and insect control, and post-harvest residue management techniques. Workshops also covered the economics of the abovementioned practices. The producers involved in the project had the primary leadership roles in the dissemination of this information. The committee cites an NRCS report that stated that there is now over fifty percent of some sort of conservation tillage being practiced in the county. This is up from close to zero just two years before the project was funded.