I don't know about a plow... Around here, some guys moldboard plow and some chisel plow. Fields look beautiful, if you like the look of bare dirt. But the problems are many....
- If it dries out, wind erosion is a big deal. Your best dirt ends up in the ditch (or on your neighbors field)
- If it rains too much (and sloping ground like around here), you'll be bouncing through washouts when you spray and combine. Again, the best dirt is in the ditch (or down the creek).
- Even more precious than water is organic matter, and flipping the dirt over with the plow exposes all that OM to oxygen, and *poof* no more OM. (Prior owner plowed every year, 1% OM in the soil. After 20 years, I've got it up to about 3.5% - makes a YUUUGE difference).
To fight compaction, I do a deep till rip after beans every other rotation (every 4 years). That's one shank every 30 inches (takes about 40HP/shank) and goes down 20 inches. Corn roots go down, hit compaction, go sideways until they find the trench, then down to China they go! Then I try to do only one tillage pass ahead of planting each year. I did 80 acres east of my house last fall, and that corm looks way better than across the street going east, north, or south. (We have higher magnesium soils here, so they compact easily.) This works for me, but everyone has their own system...
