Overall, it seems conventional farming methods are better for the soil than no-till practices. But that’s only if farmers plough the soil without relying on herbicides and other harmful chemicals.

Current evidence suggests these chemicals are damaging, both for the soil and our health. So we need new ways of producing food without chemicals. “No-kill cropping” – which involves sowing seed directly into dry soils without any artificial chemicals – may be one option.

But we urgently need more research to know if such alternative ways of farming will actually improve the health of our soils, communities and agriculture sector.

I had read over and over again that no-till farming is best but the argument in the article is really interesting. And it will be helpful in my vegie patch too.

I thought no-till was a thing because soil erosion was becoming a crisis, the co2 storage just seemed like a bonus. The research focused on commercial corn and soy farms, the insane amount of pesticides used probably say more about commercial farms than about no-till in general.
Then they reference some meta analysis that has mixed results about co2 storage.
Idk man, imma put this one in the keep an eye on it until a subject matter expert chimes in pile.

Edit: so Dr. Eldridge that wrote the article has a PhD in soil science, so I assume he knows wtf he is talking about. I still think the takeaway here is commercial farms are run by greedy bastards and maybe the way we define what counts as no-till is just as dumb as the way we define “organic food”.