What is no-till farming, and is it actually better for the environment?

Maksym Belchenko/Getty Humans have been turning seeds and soil into food for thousands of years. We first started cultivating edible plants at the end of the last Ice Age, roughly 12,000 years ago. Ploughing made this possible. Ploughing, also known as tilling, is the process of turning over soil to bury weeds, loosen the earth and bring fresh nutrients to the surface. But ploughing, particularly over long periods, can erode the soil and make it less healthy. This is where conservation-focused…