Soil is the cardinal resource for agricultural crops. Healthy soil will produce healthy plants. Since healthy soil is the important goal for the farmers, they need to select the best tillage system to achieve that goal. There are two main types of tillage systems. Conservation tillage (no-tillage farming) uses agricultural machinery that performs a double function; tillage and seed farming simultaneously. In contrast, conventional tillage farming uses multiple agricultural machines to till and seed the soil. The farmers in the northern governorates of Iraq have used the conservation farming system for a long time. However, the farmers who live in the middle and southern governorates in Iraq use conventional tillage farming. Because most of the farmers in Iraq use the conventional tillage farming method instead of conservation tillage farming to prepare the soil, this paper will briefly explain the advantages and disadvantages for each method. This article might help Iraqi farmers to select one of these two approaches, with the goals of increasing crop yield, saving energy, conserving water, reducing total cost of farming, and guarding the environment against air pollution.
