Blogger Nathanael Johnson, who writes 'Thought for food' on the Grist website, recently contemplated the impacts of reduced soil tillage on the use of chemical herbicides and crops genetically engineered to tolerate herbicide applications.

He noted that the practice of tillage in farming does not mimic nature.

"Nature only rarely turns the land upside down — only during disasters," Johnson wrote. "This ecosystem (soil) responds to being turned upside-down the same way a rainforest would: It falls apart."

However, the author wondered whether the development of herbicide-tolerant crops has led farmers to adopt conservation...