Industrial agriculture is a major cause of global warming due to greenhouse emissions of CO2 and N2O. Reducing the tillage is a potential solution because emissions are lower. However, in organic farming, the lack of herbicide should favour weed infestation. But are weeds really a problem for productivity? Armengot et al. compared the effect of reduced and conventional tillage on crop yields and weeds in a 2002-2011 field experiment under organic farming. They found that despite higher weed infestation by perennial species under reduced tillage, yields of wheat, sunflower and spelt were similar for both tillage systems. Therefore findings show that reduced tillage is a viable cropping system for organic farming.
