Tilling the Land: A Brief History
Prehistory and Preagricultural
The digging stick, one of the most primitive agricultural tools, was used primarily for loosening the soil to gather underground foods or dig our burrowing animals. As the first implement of soil manipulation, it was the precursor to the most primitive plows.
Digging sticks are still used by some indigenous communities. The stick at right was used by Nez Perce Native Americans for gathering camas bulbs.
Nez Perce Digging Stick // Wallowa, Oregon // Late 1800’s
Antiquity
Prior to the domestication of draft animals, soil manipulation proceeded by hand, with hoes and mattocks used to open furrows in which to plant seeds. During this time, soil manipulation was limited to actions which assisted the planting of seeds rather than intensive weed control.
“When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?” - Isaiah 28:24
Peasant with Ard // Egyptian Middle Kingdom // 1981-1885 B.C.
The domestication of draft animals enabled the invention of the plow. All societies of pre-classsical and classical antiquity tilled fields with plows. The moldboard plow, which turned over soil, was first developed in first and second century A.D. in Han China. In the West, however, plows were more primitive throughout antiquity, and worked almost exclusively to loosen soil for planting.
Regardless, the premodern farmer lacked the capacity to significantly alter soil composition on a large scale.
“The plows of Alexander the Great’s time and those of the Romans had not such power to harass raw earth and rip it open to the weather a sdo modern tractor rigs of iron with blades of steel.” - Care of the Earth, Russel Lord
Detail: Peasant with Plow // Saint Romain-en-Gal, France // 3rd Century A.D.
Middle Ages
Detail of Medieval Plow, Macclesfield Psalter (folio 77v) // East Anglia // Aprox. 1330 A.D.
The Medieval Period was marked by conflict and disease, during which continual instability and population stagnation in Europe limited both agricultural innovation and the dissemination of agricultural technology. Nonetheless, major advances in tillage occurred during this time period. First, plows the use of the coultered moldboard plow, which featured both a vertical implement preceding the main plow component and a curved plow, allowed for the overturning of heavier soils. Second, the heavy, wheeled plow allowed for the cultivation of heavy, wet, Northern European soils which could not be cleared by earlier light plows comprised mainly of wood. Third, by the tenth centuries ox and horse harnesses were reworked to distribute weight to the shoulders rather than the neck, which allowed for increased power in plowing.
Ridge and Furrow Topography // Brailes, Warwickshire, UK // Middle Ages
The development of plow technologies allowed for the intensification of soil manipulation by medieval people. For the first time, tillage began to have a permanent topographical impact on soil. This is still seen in many places, especially in the United Kingdom, where abandoned “Ridge and Furrow” farms persist in the landscape.
Renaissance
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, Pieter Bruegel the Elder // 1560
During the renaissance, the moldboard plow was further refined and became widely distributed throughout Europe. Other developments such as the spread of crop rotation increased agricultural yields, but the basic design of the plow remained the same.
Enlightenment
Though the basic function of the plow likewise remained the same as before, Enlightenment era thinkers redesigned the moldboard plow to be more effective as a soil turning instrument. New designs, emphasized efficiency, and allowed farmers to turn sod with less force. This new focus on design is exemplified in the Thomas Jefferson’s model, pictured below. Jefferson, while minister to France in the 1780’s, utilized European plows and mathematics to inform his “Plow of Least Resistance” which won a design award from the Societe d’Agriculture du Departement de la Seine.
Industrial Revolution
Perennial prairie grass roots which extended deep into the soil made the newly acquired American West difficult to cultivate. John Deere recognized this difficulty, aggregated ideas from regional innovators, and popularized the steel plow beginning in 1837. Lighter and more durable than cast iron plows, the steel plow revolutionized American Agriculture and enabled extensive manipulation of the soil on a scale unprecedented in human history. This capability to alter the soil, coupled with timeless notions of the plow as a fertilizing instrument, set the tone for the extensive manipulation and degradation of American soils that would come to a head during the Dust Bowl crisis of the 1930’s.
Pictured to the right is one of three original plows created by John Deere as prototypes.
John Deere’s Steel plow prototype // Illinois, USA // 1830’s
John Deere Steel Plows // USA // 1882
20th Century
The invention of the tractor-drawn moldboard plow and mechanized agriculture lead to extensive destruction of American soils. Extensive rather than intensive, American agriculture (west of the Appalachians) steadily found new lands to cultivate as old farms were rendered unproductive by plowing and improper fertilization. Inspired by traditional notions of manifest destiny and the boundless wealth of America’s natural resources, the plow and its ability to manipulate soil were venerated in American Art.
Fall Plowing, Grant Wood // Iowa, USA // 1931
However, extensive plowing and soil mismanagement spurred the American dustbowl and marked a turning point in American Agriculture. Visual culture began to reflect the apocalyptic reality of the American farm rendered infertile, and spurred a growing discussion on the merit of tilling the soil. The mood was captured by Pare Lorentz in his 1936 documentary film, The Plow that Broke the Plains as well as paintings and images which captured the destruction of America’s heartland.
Detail from The Plow that Broke the Plains by Pare Lorentz
Dust Bowl, Alexandre Hogue // USA // 1933
Farmer and Sons - Arthur Rothstein // Iowa, USA // 1936
Modern Day
“There is nothing wrong with our soil, except our interference”
- Edward Faulkner
The destruction of the Dust Bowl prompted a backlash against tillage-based agriculture. Edward H. Faulkner wrote the first treatise on what would be later dubbed “conservation” or “no-till” agriculture in his 1944 bestseller, Plowman’s Folly. However, the adoption of no-till agriculture was at first limited by the ability of farmers to control weeds. “The technology that made this possible,” Robert Rice claims in Green Fields Forever, “was a by-product of World War II research - the discovery of 2,4-D and related organic phenoxy herbicides” (38).
Following the development of these herbicides, however, no-till and conservation tillage systems have expanded throughout the world.
Now, the vast majority of farming operations in the United States implement some form of reduced tillage, though adoption of strictly no-till systems has proceeded slowly.
Plowman’s Folly, Edward Faulkner // USA // 1944
Why is Tilling So Attractive?
The destruction wrought by tilling begs the question: why is tilling so attractive? In my research for this project, I’ve found that the persistence of tilling in agricultural practices can be explained by the following:
Tilling is necessary to clear land to begin agriculture and renew land following disturbances such as intense flooding.
Tilling is essential for removing weeds in the absence of pesticides. No-till agriculture requires industrial herbicide application
Tilling is a timeless and universal practice, recognized historically as one of the most essential practices to successful agriculture. Traditional, non-intensive tilling was inefficient and limited by human and draft animal labor, and therefore non-industrial plowmen accrued the benefits of tilling without many of the unpleasant side effects.
Tilling as a practice which requires great attention to land to minimize erosion and maintain soil health, does not scale up to industrial levels.
No-till and conservation tillage agriculture, though less labor and cost-intensive as tillage-based agriculture, is counter intuitive to the foundational knowledge of many farmers and requires technical acumen.
Soil does not immediately respond to the adoption of no-till agriculture, and yields can be suppressed relative to moldboard plow levels for several years following adoption before the health of the soil is restored.
“You are creating a drastic ecological change - returning the land back to something much closer to its original state as native grassland Why shouldn’t you expect things to happen? The trouble is, people draw premature conclusions that conservation tillage wont work and give up on it soo soon They shouldn’t. Damnit.”
- Robert Papendick, USDA Soil Scientist
“Traditionally, the act of turning the soil via the moldboard plow was considered simply to be a field-scale version of preparing garden soil by means of a spade. However, the preparation of garden soil is an intensive form of cultivation wherein most essential natural processes are replaced by the gardener in enriching and aerating his or her plot. Drawing a moldboard plow through a field merely interrupts the natural processes of undisturbed soil rather than replacing them with the gardener’s artifice.”
- Charles E. Little, in book Green Fields Forever
Modern, no-till soybean field in the USA.