Deep Plowing - Why Farmers Plow their Field so Deep?

Deep plowing is not recommended for all soils.
Most soils which produce high yields show little benefit from deep plowing,
Others may double their yields.

There are many different reasons to do deep plowing.
1.For soil which would not take up water readily.
Water tends to run off such soils rather than to soak down the root zone.
Deep plowing modifies the soil structure so that water may be transported more
from the surface to the water table or Co drains.

2. To restore the ideal structure of the soils.
Mixing the clods, rolling them over and leave the space on the surface to a new field
which has not been previously intensively cultivated, which help the birth and the growth of the
Future new plant. It in fact, will be able to find the proper space to expand its roots.

3. Weeds control.
Deep ploughing tended to give better control of many perennial weeds,
and often of annual weeds than shallow ploughing.

[zabler]

My family has been farming for 5 generations and this is a lie. This is an insane waste of time and resources. So much fuel wasted to simply destroy thousands of years worth of top soil buildup.

[gardnep]

In Australia it is rarely done because in our shallow soils it mixes infertile subsoil with fertile top soil. Apart from being extremely wasteful on fuel and wear and tear on machinery. Over here, plant roots are much more effective at aerating soil than plowing, they die and leave millions of channels for water and nutrients to enter.

[ivanlandivar]

The fertile black soil from the top put under the yellow soil, simply insane. 🤯

[southronjr]

The problem, as mentioned in other comments, is that you turn over and bury the most fertile top layers of soil, breaking the hard pan in certain areas is a good thing but plowing that deep is fairly rare. Most of the farmers in my area have completely gotten away from plowing at all and use drills to plant seed and alternate the crops from heavy nitrogen feeders to legumes to put nitrogen back in every few years.

[carlbergevin]

Silliness. Add organic matter to improve drainage. Chisel plow if necessary leaving soil layers intact. Use rotary tillage or discing on the top layer to incorporate crop residues. And don't compact the soil by running 5 CATs over it.

[michaelplunkett]

My Dad, born 1918 and not a farmer thought this helped aerate lower soils and bring untapped minerals to the surface, increasing fertility and building deeper topsoil.

Current no till runs counter.

[jasminelindros]

Just look at the cross-section of the soil before the plow turns it over. Fertile, humic-rich soil on top, lighter and less fertile soil below, and deep plowing deliberately takes that fertile layer and buries it where the roots of annual crops can't reach it. Deep plowing is only a benefit to sterile soils with poor structure, where you won't necessarily lose anything by destroying that already-poor structure.

[HanginInSF]

I don't know jack about farming but hooking up 5 tractors to cut a huge hole in the ground is bad ass.

[bigchieftomato]

I love the comments section in this post, as a farmer I am shocked we are definitely messing the soil structure by plowing - there are other methods of soil regeneration

[artmosley]

After the huge floods in the mid west back in the early’90’s, they made a 10 foot plow, pulled by 2 Caterpillar tracked tractors.. they had to plow under 12-20 inches of sand and new dirt from the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on all the bottom ground farms.. they did soil test and said that there was 20-30 feet deep of top soil underneath.. we have been farming only the top 2 feet for over a hundred years in many places..and after the Mount St Hellen volcanic eruption.. over a Billion tons of fresh volcanic dust has enriched the entire Northern states, Midwest and top eastern farm lands.

[jamesrogers]

A lot of that looked like they were burying the good under junk.
I'd freak out if I saw someone doing that to my field.

[xhawkeye]

And here comes the "ain't never heard of that around these parts, therefore it don't exist" crowd.

[bb]

One of the first guys plowing straight up sand to the surface... Smart.

[benweber]

I don't know who is gonna run over that with a disk but it ain't gonna be me

[tracnunya]

You know that great smell after you plow ?
That's all the value of your land going up in the air and drifting away

[JehovahsBitches]

No till all the way! We shouldn’t disturb the soil. Fungal ecology is an important aspect that is often overlooked

[raymondo]

2:53: ploughing the dark soil under and leaving nutritionally-bland yellow sand on top. terrific illustration of THE main failure of ploughing. well played, eejit

[wannabefarmer]

It's terrifying to see all the black dirt turned under. I wish we had black. All ours is yellow clay.

[charliepiston]

Watch Gabe Brown's lectures to learn about NO-TILL, MULTI-SPECIES COVER CROPPING, MOB GRAZING and more. See how today's farmers are improving their soil, increasing organic matter, increasing water infiltration, protecting soil from erosion and top soil loss, increasing profitability, reducing inputs, growing healthier food, protecting the health of the environment., and more.

[Hankbhomeless]

There are a few exceptions in the US where deep plows are needed. One thing not mentioned in this video is sandy or silty clay soils in desert regions that haven’t been worked before may be necessary. States such as Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and even parts of New Mexico where ground hasn’t been worked in awhile may see this. It really isn’t something you would ever want to do on conventional fields that are worked because you’ll destroy your top soil horizon and essentially have to start all over again with added nutrients and fertilizer to being back you 3 major Macronutrients. If someone is doing this regularly, they have no idea how soil health works and should leave the ag industry alone.