A critical physical geography of no‐till agriculture: Linking degraded environmental quality to conservation policies in an Oregon watershed

Abstract

A variety of agricultural conservation trends have gained and lost favour throughout the years, with farm bills in the United States often influencing which conservation practices are implemented. This paper explores the consequences of a set of conservation techniques loosely defined as “no‐till agriculture,” focusing on their implementation and adoption since 1985, at which point such approaches began to be explicitly encouraged under US Farm Bill soil conservation mandates. We begin by noting a core contradiction that has characterized these approaches in the Fifteenmile Watershed of Wasco County, Oregon, where despite high rates of farmer enrollment in no‐till programs, both no‐till agriculture and sustained tillage have led to the increased use of herbicides and sustained sediment runoff. Using a critical physical geography framework that integrates intensive physical field data collection, spatial analysis, social surveys, and interviews, we address the biophysical and social factors collectively driving changes in herbicide use and variable erosion estimates. We draw particular attention to how farm bill support for no‐till has enrolled farmers in a vaguely defined and underregulated conservation practice that may ultimately undermine environmental quality.

Practicing critical physical geography: New trading zones and interactional expertise in an expanding field

“…By developing and applying interactional expertise, the authors in this theme illuminate how non-proximate, structural forces shape eco-social patterns that emerge in biophysical analysis. Malone and McClintock (2022) examine the unintended consequences of no-till agricultural practices in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Successive United States' Farm Bills have encouraged no-till agriculture to improve environmental quality and decrease soil loss, but the authors demonstrate that herbicide and sediment runoff have continued to increase.…”

“…For example, papers in this special section provide frameworks on how to employ social empirical approaches, such as ethnography (e.g., Luthra et al, 2021, this special section), to contextualize biophysical processes, and biophysical empirical approaches, such as dendrochronology (e.g., Greer et al, 2023, this special section), and to examine socio‐historical processes. Other papers engage with CPG's first tenet by mixing quantitative and qualitative methods (e.g., Malone & McClintock, 2022, this special section) to highlight previously undetected eco‐social relations. In embracing CPG's first core tenet, the papers in this special section demonstrate the field as a space where researchers can experiment with diverse mixed‐method environmental research.…”

“…Malone and McClintock (2022) examine the unintended consequences of no‐till agricultural practices in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Successive United States' Farm Bills have encouraged no‐till agriculture to improve environmental quality and decrease soil loss, but the authors demonstrate that herbicide and sediment runoff have continued to increase.…”