What Is Tillage and How Do I Choose the Best Tillage Equipment for My Land?

In this article, we will go more in-depth into what tillage is, the different tillage systems you can use, which kind of tillage equipment is needed, and how to choose the most suitable tools for your land and chosen method.

What Is Tillage in Agriculture?

Tillage is the activity of churning the soil before planting. It acts to prepare the soil, control weeds, enhance soil health with additional nutrients, and increase crop production. What used to be a manual process has now become more automated with mechanical tillage equipment doing most of the work.

Within this agricultural process are two important steps: primary tillage and secondary tillage.

• Primary Tillage: Primary tillage involves overturning and blending soil that has never been touched or contains your previous crop residue. This technique delves deeper into the soil than secondary tillage to ensure roots can go down deeper. Primary tillage equipment like moldboard plows, disk plows, chisel plows, and subsoilers are used in this step of soil preparation.

• Secondary Tillage: Next comes secondary tillage, which is used for further soil disturbance by breaking down clumps, leveling the soil, and creating a smoother finish for your seedbed so it’s suitable for planting. This step enhances soil structure, promotes better air and soil moisture retention, and controls weeds. For secondary tillage, you can use disk harrows, field cultivators, rotary tillers, or harrows.

Types of Tillage Equipment

A wide variety of equipment is available for primary and secondary tillage techniques. What you’ll need will largely depend on tillage use, soil type, crop, and required weed control.

Tillage Equipment by Use

Equipment Type	Tillage Use	Reasons for Use	Soil Type	Crop	Weed Control
Plow (Moldboard)	Primary	Deeply buries crop residue, offers weed control, and prepares for seedbed	Heavy, clayey soils	Row crops like corn	Excellent for burying weed seeds
Chisel Plow	Primary	Minimal soil inversion, reduces soil compaction preserves soil structure	Loamy to clayey soils	Wheat, corn, soybeans	Moderate; breaks weed life cycle
Disk Harrow	Secondary	Breaks up clods, offers weed control, smoothes soil surface, incorporates fertilizer	All types, especially after plowing	Most crops, before planting	Good for cutting and uprooting weeds
Subsoiler	Primary	Breaks up deeper soil layers (subsoil), reducing soil compaction and leaving topsoil undisturbed	Compacted, clayey soils	Deep-rooted crops like alfalfa	Not directly used for weed control
Cultivator	Secondary	Weed control between crop rows, aeration of soil, breaking soil crust	Loamy to sandy soils	Row crops	Excellent for in-row weed control
Rotary Tiller	Secondary	Fine soil tilth for seedbed preparation, incorporating small residues and offering weed control	All types, best for fine seedbed prep	Gardens, vegetable plots	Good for incorporating weeds into soil
Roller Packer	Secondary	Firming the soil surface, reducing soil clods and preparing a smooth seedbed	Loamy to sandy soils	Small-seeded crops	Indirectly aids by improving seedbed
Spike-Tooth Harrow	Secondary	Light weeding, breaking crust, smoothing soil surface after plowing	Light, sandy soils	Cereal grains, grasslands	Good for surface weed control

How to Choose the Best Tillage Equipment?

With so many choices to choose from, you may be wondering how to choose the best tillage equipment, or tillage implements, for your tractor and particular farming requirements.

Below, we provide greater detail into how each tillage equipment works to help you understand which one would be most suitable for your soil conditions, as well as equipment for sale through our online farm equipment platform.

Primary Tillage Implements

Plows

There are three types of plows used for tilling today: moldboard, chisel, and disc harrows.

Moldboard Plow

A moldboard plow is used to deep till the soil, bury crop residue and weeds deep into the soil, and prepare for the seedbed.

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Chisel Plow

This kind of plow is used for deep tillage but actually loosens and aerates the soil’s organic matter in such a way that crop residue remains on the soil surface. This is a great tool to break up soil compaction while also minimizing risk of soil erosion and runoff.

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Disc Harrow

A disc harrow can be used to pulverize soil and clods, mix in crop residue, increase weed control, offer soil aeration, and smooth the soil surface so it’s ready for secondary tillage.

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Subsoilers

If you have really hard soil you want to break up without disturbing the topsoil like a plow, you can use a subsoiler. It will break up soil much deeper than a plow can reach to reduce soil compaction. This method and equipment is good for deep-rooted crops.

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Secondary Tillage Implements

After primary tillage has been completed, you can move on to secondary tillage using one of the equipment options listed below.

Cultivator

After soil has been broken up from primary tillage, you can use a cultivator to mix in additional soil and fertilizer, as well as fragment smaller weeds that appear over time to prevent them from overtaking your crops.

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Rotary Tiller

Rotary tillers can sometimes be used for both primary and secondary tillage. It will continue to break down clods and aid seedbed preparation.

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Roller Packer

Roller packers are often used to compress soil down after plowing in preparation for planting.

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Spike-Tooth Harrow

This tillage tool helps spread clods, manure, grasses, and soil evenly, offering a smooth bed for planting.

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