you would most likely see contour plowing in belgium, italy.
where would you most likely see contour plowing?
belgium, italy
contour bunding or contour farming or contour ploughing is the farming practice of plowing and/or planting across a slope following its elevation contour lines. these contour lines create a water break which reduces the formation of rills and gullies during times of heavy water run-off; which is a major cause of soil erosion. the water break also allows more time for the water to settle into the soil. in contour plowing, the ruts made by the plow run perpendicular rather than parallel to the slopes, generally resulting in furrows that curve around the land and are level. this method is also known for preventing tillage erosion. tillage erosion is the soil movement and erosion by tilling a given plot of land. a similar practice is contour bunding where stones are placed around the contours of slopes.contour ploughing helps to reduce soil erosion.
contour plowing
p. a. yeomans' keyline design system is critical of traditional contour plowing techniques, and improves the system through observing normal land form and topography. at one end of a contour the slope of the land will always be steeper than at the other. thus when plowing parallel runs paralleling any contour the plow furrows soon deviate from a true contour. rain water in these furrows will thus flow sideways along the falling "contour" line. this can often concentrate water in a ways that exacerbates erosion instead of reducing it. yeomans was the first to appreciate the significance of this phenomenon. keyline cultivation utilizes this "off contour" drift in cultivating furrows to control the movement of rain water for the benefit of the land. ( see chapter 7 in priority one history of twentieth century soil conservation and keyline.)
contour plowing