The Quiet Killer of Soil Health: What Tillage Is Really Doing to Your Fields

For generations, tillage has been a trusted practice. It breaks up compaction, buries residue, and creates a clean seedbed. But beneath the surface, there’s a hidden cost. Each time we disturb the soil, we disrupt its microbial life and some of the most beneficial organisms we’re destroying are arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF).

These fungi aren’t just passengers in the soil; they are the architects of healthy root systems, natural nutrient cycles, and long-term soil structure. With every pass of the ripper or chisel plow, we’re not only moving earth, we’re erasing years of biological progress.

What Science Says About Tillage and Fungi

AMF forms symbiotic relationships with more than 90% of terrestrial plants. They colonize roots and spread hyphae, increasing the surface area for nutrient and water absorption by up to 400 times. But these delicate fungal threads don’t survive well in fields that are regularly tilled. Mechanical disturbance breaks the hyphae networks and exposes the fungi to UV light, which quickly kills the spores and structures they’ve developed.

Worse still, synthetic fertilizers and soil compaction from heavy equipment further degrade fungal communities. This creates a compounding problem: poor fungal presence reduces nutrient uptake, leading to heavier fertilizer reliance which in turn damages microbial life even further.

It’s a biological downward spiral hiding under a practice most growers still consider essential.

The Soil Biology Breakdown

Deep tillage, fumigation, and anhydrous applications devastate microbial diversity. A soil test might show “good fertility” on paper, but if your biology is missing, those nutrients aren’t bioavailable to plants. A 2021 report in New Phytologist emphasized how fungal networks are essential for mobilizing and transporting macro and micronutrients from areas roots can’t access (Field et al., 2021).

This isn’t hypothetical. In fields studied across Nebraska and the Dakotas, crops treated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi displayed wider root systems, deeper nodal development, and higher nutrient concentrations in plant tissue – all indicators of active, healthy fungal symbiosis.

But when those fields were tilled repeatedly between seasons or disrupted during non-mycorrhizal crop cycles like sugar beets, mustard, or canola, fungal populations dropped sharply. The biology simply couldn’t keep up with the damage.

The Cost of Starting Over

Let’s say you till your field 3-4 times in a season, for fertilizer incorporation, planting prep, weed control, and post-harvest management. Each pass doesn’t just stir the soil. It resets your biological clock. For fungi, this means disrupted networks, killed hyphae, and colonization that never gets the chance to mature.

Brady Krchnavy, founder of New Age Farming, points out that in certain “dead zones”, even weeds won’t grow. “Those over chemicaled, white salt-crusted patches? There’s nothing left biologically. That’s not sustainable,” he explains.

Rebuilding those networks takes time, often years. However, by integrating MycoMaxx immediately after till-intensive crops, farmers can begin rebuilding that soil biology – starting with the AMF.

A Practical Path Forward: Less Tillage, More Biology

Many successful growers aren’t going fully no-till overnight. Instead, they’re shifting to strip-till or shallow incorporation methods that preserve lower root zones where mycorrhizal fungi thrive.

In these reduced-disturbance systems, fungal networks begin to persist across crop cycles. Over time, some growers find they no longer need to reapply inoculants each year because their soil has become biologically self-sustaining.

Key practices include:

• Apply mycorrhizal fungi after harvest of non-mycorrhizal crops. Even if your rotation includes beets, mustard, or canola, reintroducing fungi immediately afterward sets up your next crop (corn, wheat, soybeans) for success.
  
• Reduce tillage depth. Strip-till or vertical till methods preserve fungal structures in the lower root zone while still allowing for seedbed prep.
  
• Avoid spring pre-plant tillage in inoculated fields. The fungi you’ve paid to apply are vulnerable in those early spring weeks – protect them from unnecessary disruption.
  

Beyond Tillage: Building Resilient Soil Systems

The long-term goal isn’t just reducing tillage. It’s about rebuilding soil systems where fertility, water retention, and disease resistance come naturally.

When AMF are allowed to thrive, they do more than feed crops:

• They structure soil. Fungal exudates like glomalin bind soil particles, improving aggregate stability and reducing erosion.
  
• They fight pathogens. Healthy fungal populations crowd out disease-causing organisms and enhance plant immune responses.
  
• They reduce input reliance. Over time, farmers using fungi report less need for synthetic fertilizers, fewer herbicide applications, and lower irrigation requirements.
  

These aren’t minor benefits. They represent the backbone of what regenerative agriculture promises, and what modern, biologically focused farming delivers.

Making the Switch Isn’t Just Smart – It’s Necessary

If you’re tilling deep year after year, you’re not just disturbing the topsoil. You’re erasing the very life that makes farming sustainable.

In the face of rising input costs, climate variability, and soil degradation, it’s time to think deeper – literally and figuratively. Mycorrhizal fungi offer a way to reverse decades of biological damage. But they can’t survive the plow.

Let them work for you. And let Farm Fungi help you build a more resilient, biologically active soil system, starting with every seed you plant.

Sources 

• Field, K. J., et al. “The Role of Mycorrhizal Networks in Plant Nutrition.” New Phytologist, vol. 229, no. 1, 2021, pp. 82–96.
  
• Petersen, Mike. “Trip Report of the VT Crop Stage Plots.” Soils Consultant Report, Wood River Interchange, 2022.
  
• Kise, Sam. “New Age Farming and the Power of Mycorrhizal Fungi.” Future Farmer Magazine, March-April 2023.
  
• Soil Food Web School. “The Magnificent Mycorrhizal Fungi.” soilfoodweb.com.