Indiana soils vary in their suitability to these types of tillage systems. Generally, some form of conservation tillage is well adapted to all sloping, erosive soils in the state. Other soil management practices . Several other practices help slow runoff and allow time for settling of suspended sediment from runoff water. On slopes in the 2-6 percent range, contouring has been shown to cut soil erosion in half.
Grassed waterways provide another method of preventing major soil losses.
Spring tillage , rather than fall tillage, on sloping land allows crop residues to remain on the soil surface during the winter, protecting it from serious water erosion. If fall tillage is practiced, fall moldboard plowing should not be done on sloping land without water control by terracing or other structural measures. In rolling terrain, rotation of row crops with small grains and hay is a highly valuable soil conservation practice. A rotation of corn and soybeans, on the other hand, can lead to more serious erosion than growing continuous corn. A good means of controlling erosion after soybeans is a winter cover crop seeded into the soybean residue.