A new approach to soil tillage for organic vegetable production: permanent beds

The effect of controlled traffic with permanent crop beds was compared to mouldboard ploughing in France for organic vegetable production. Four trials were carried out over a period of three to seven years at four sites with different pedo-climatic conditions. Variable results were obtained, depending on soil type (susceptibility to compaction), tillage machinery type, vegetable type (root or not, grown from seed or transplant) and weed development. However, permanent crop beds with controlled traffic generally improved biological activity and reduced labour demand.