The Invisible Elephant: Disadoption of Conservation Practices in the United States

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently reviewed trends in cover crop and conservation tillage adoption in the United States. Cover crop adoption increased by 50% (or 5.1 million acres) between 2012 and 2017, while showing substantial variability across the 50 states (Wallander et al., 2021). The use of conservation tillage, including no-till, followed varying patterns through time and across main cash crops (Claassen et al., 2018): An initial period of substantial growth in conservation tillage and no-till wheat (2004–2009) and soybeans (2002–2006) was followed by less rapid gains for wheat (2009–2017) and decline in conservation tillage and no-till soybeans (2006–2012); growth in conservation tillage and no-till use was modest in corn and cotton.