In the late 1980s and 1990s, the Soil and Water Conservation District of Bureau County, Illinois distributed these signs to promote no-till farming. Conservation tillage (no-till is one approach) was developed in the 1960s as a soil preservation method. New herbicides and specialized planters allowed farmers to plant without plowing. Traditionally, farmers tilled the soil to prepare it for planting and during the growing season to kill weeds. Plowing buried weeds and crop residue from the previous season but caused damaging soil erosion. By 2015, the use of conservation tillage had reduced soil erosion in the United States to a record low.
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