In Central Europe, the challenge in soil tillage throughout the last century can
be characterized as a fi ght against extreme climatic and economic situations.
From 1800s till the 1970s, the main requirement of soil tillage was to provide
suitable soil conditions for plant growth (moreover with fi ne structure). Both
climatic and economic diffi culties were benefi cial in establishing new tillage
trends, however overestimation of the crop demands have presumably been
promoted by the deterioration in soil quality. From the end of the 1990s, new
requirements have also been introduced because of the rise in energy prices
and because of the need to cut production costs. Th e reduced tillage in Central
European region showed some advantages, e.g. less soil disturbance and traffi c
however, that resulted in new soil condition defects (e.g. top- and subsoil
compaction, structure degradation). Th e ideas of sustainability off ered a better
solution that is to conserve soil resources and to protect the environment. A
new problem, the global climate change, and the importance of the adaptability
fasten to the original sustainable goals. In this paper the features of soil quality
deteriorating tillage (conventional, over-reduced) are summarised, the steps of
improvement are demonstrated, and factors aff ecting sustainable soil tillage are
formulated
