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Contour plowing or contour farming is the farming practice of plowing and/or planting across a slope following its elevation contour lines. These contour line furrows create a water break, reducing the formation of rills and gullies during heavy precipitation and allowing more time for the water to settle into the soil. [ 1 ]
Contour ploughing orients furrows following the contour lines of the farmed area. Furrows move left and right to maintain a constant altitude, which reduces runoff . Contour plowing was practiced by the ancient Phoenicians for slopes between two and ten percent. [ 4 ]
Terraces, conservation tillage, and conservation buffers save soil and improve water quality on this Iowa farm. Hydroseeding in the United Kingdom Tateyama SabÅ Erosion Control Works Service Train (description page) Erosion control construction entrance (description page)
Random contour plowing also becomes off contour but usually with the opposite effect on runoff, namely causing it to quickly run off ridges and concentrate in valleys. The limitations of the traditional system of soil conservation , with its "safe disposal" approach to farm water , was an important motivation to develop Keyline design.
Contour strip cropping employs a crop rotation system down a slope to minimize runoff and rain velocity. [1] It is used mainly on gentle slope gradients. The width of protective strips is often higher than that of the row crop strips, so they may effectively intercept runoff.
Contour buffer strips used to retain soil and reduce erosion. A buffer strip is an area of land maintained in permanent vegetation that helps to control air quality, soil quality, and water quality, along with other environmental problems, dealing primarily on land that is used in agriculture.
Contour ploughing mitigates soil erosion by ploughing across a slope, along elevation lines. Alternatives to ploughing, such as a no-till method, have the potential to build soil levels and humus. These may be suitable for smaller, intensively cultivated plots and for farming on poor, shallow or degraded soils that ploughing would further degrade.
No-till farming (also known as zero tillage or direct drilling) is an agricultural technique for growing crops or pasture without disturbing the soil through tillage.No-till farming decreases the amount of soil erosion tillage causes in certain soils, especially in sandy and dry soils on sloping terrain.