Frequent Plowing and Heavy Tractor Traffic Disrupts Soil Structure and Makes it More Vulnerable to Flooding and Drought, According to Study, and Less Intensive Management for Agricultural Soil Works Best, According to Another Study

   

     Two separate studies indicate that leaving soil less disturbed retains important soil structures and makes the soil more resilient to flooding and droughts, and better for agriculture. In particular, less plowing means better soil health. Thus, conservation tillage, which can be reduced tillage or no-till methods, preserves soil health.

 

Paper 1: Agroseismology and the Impact of Farming Practices on Soil Hydrodynamics

     A study led by Dr. Shi Qibin from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with international partners and published in the journal Science, utilized fiber optic sensors to analyze soil structure before and after deep plowing.

     According to Phys.org:

“The researchers converted standard fiber-optic cables—similar to those used in high-speed internet networks—into a large-scale sensor array…”

     The array was used to detect tiny ground vibrations caused by water flow and also to monitor that water flow. They confirmed that rainfall in heavily cultivated soil tends to pool near the surface, where more of it evaporates. In contrast, undisturbed soil filters rainwater and tends to store it deeper, where it can be better accessed by plant roots. Undisturbed soil retains water through capillary forces, which help to hold the soil together.

"Rather than a simple collection of particles, soil is a porous medium in which the structure functions like capillary vessels within the water cycle," Dr. Shi explained.

     Plowing and compacting the soil with heavy machinery breaks up those capillary networks that stabilize the soil and manage water for plants.

     The study is unique in that it utilized distributed acoustic (fiber optic) sensing, or agroseismology, with physics-based hydromechanical modeling to essentially “listen” to the soil to analyze it.

     Interestingly, the paper detailed implications of the study’s conclusions on agricultural soil health, Earth system modeling, and geotechnical engineering. In terms of soil health, the paper noted that “tillage-related disturbance impairs moisture retention and thus drought resilience, an effect pertinent to agricultural sustainability.” For Earth system modeling, there are implications for how land–atmosphere exchanges are represented in climate models based on these soil-water interactions. Potential implications from the paper for geotechnical engineering are given below:

“…our results show that moisture-driven, capillary-induced changes challenge the assumption of a static geotechnical layer. This aligns with growing evidence that groundwater fluctuations and seasonal variability can modify site response and promote ground failure. Earthquake-triggered liquefaction, traditionally considered limited to fully saturated soil, may also occur in partially saturated soil once a percolation threshold is exceeded (~70% saturation), and water levels remain a key control on failure potential. As climate variability and urbanization alter near-surface hydrology, incorporating the effects of hydrological processes on soil stability becomes essential for assessing ground failure and designing resilient infrastructure. Our fiber-optic sensing approach could enable in-situ monitoring of geostructures and real-time feedback on evolving stiffness as part of long-term infrastructure surveillance.

 

Paper 2: Conventional and Organic Farms with More Intensive Management Have Lower Soil Functionality

     Another study, also published in the journal Science, by a research team led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) concluded that undisturbed soils with less intensive management are more functional for agriculture.

     According to Phys.org:

"A multifunctional soil is essential for sustainable food production, because plants get their food from it," state the researchers, from NIOO and Wageningen University & Research (the Netherlands), and the Universität Tübingen (Germany). "Soil also has indispensable roles in water storage, coping with climate change and disease suppression."

     The study concluded that the intensity of tillage was the main factor that differentiated the functionality of the soil, with less tilling corresponding with greater functionality, regardless of whether the plots were conventional or organic.

"On all farms, including organic ones, it is important at this point not to cultivate the soil too intensively. For example: plowing less. Inverting the soil during plowing is a very big disruption to soil life."

     In addition to less plowing, utilizing more mixtures of grasses and legumes, such as clovers, contributes to a high-functioning, healthy soil. Cover cropping was found to have a positive effect on soil functionality. Soil functionality was measured by crop yields and satellite-derived measures of “greenness.” As noted in the abstract below:

“Soil organic carbon content and bacterial biomass, respectively, were the strongest abiotic and biotic predictors of soil multifunctionality.”

     The study examined both sandy and clay soils and found similar results. The researchers noted that, based on the study’s conclusions, a new goal could be:

"Productive de-intensification. If it is successful, you will get more functions from a less intensively cultivated soil while retaining the crop yield as much as possible," they state.

 

 

References: 

 

Fiber-optic sensors reveal how farming destroys soil's natural structure. Science X staff. Phys.org. March 22, 2026. Fiber-optic sensors reveal how farming destroys soil's natural structure

Agroseismology and the impact of farming practices on soil hydrodynamics. Qibin Shi, David R. Montgomery, Abigail L.S. Swann, Nicoleta C. Cristea, Ethan F. Williams, Nan You, Simon Jeffery, Joe Collins, Ana Prada Barrio, [...] , and Marine A. Denolle. Science 10.1126/science.aec0970 (March 2026). Agroseismology and the impact of farming practices on soil hydrodynamics | Science

Less intensive management works best for agricultural soil, study finds. Science X staff. Phys.org. April 8, 2025. Less intensive management works best for agricultural soil, study finds

Conventional and organic farms with more intensive management have lower soil functionality. Sophie Q. van Rijssel, Guusje J. Koorneef, G. F. (Ciska) Veen, Mirjam M. Pulleman, Ron G. M. de Goede, Rob N. J. Comans, Wim H. van der Putten, and Kyle Mason-Jones. Science. 24 Apr 2025. Vol 388, Issue 6745. pp. 410-415. Conventional and organic farms with more intensive management have lower soil functionality | Science