Mission
The goals of ISTRO are:

• to promote contacts among scientists undertaking research in soil tillage and field traffic and their relationship with the soil environment, land use and crop production,
• to stimulate scientific research in the domain of soil tillage and related fields, and
• to further the application of the results of such research into agricultural practice.

Activities
Activities of ISTRO include:

• sponsoring an international conference every three years on soil tillage and related subjects,
• sponsoring relevant workshops, excursions and demonstrations,
• sponsoring meetings of national and regional branches of ISTRO,
• promoting cooperation with national and international organizations in other fields of science with similar general purposes such as the International Union of Soil Science (IUSS) and the World Ploughing Organization (WPO), and
• providing scientific support for the international journal Soil & Tillage Research in which the regular bulletin of news and information, ISTRO-INFO, is published.

New Approaches
Soil use and management, “tillage”, is one of the major factors of agricultural production.  The diversity of soil and climatic conditions throughout the world has led to the development of various farming systems to match husbandry requirements of crops grown in a given area.  Economic considerations and, in more recent years, also environmental concerns, have made it imperative to re-examine the technologies employed in tillage.  Current topics at ISTRO symposiums and conferences vary from the traditional to futuristic agriculture.  Because of the impact of agriculture on the environment, agricultural scientists are seeking new approaches to identifying total systems of soil use and management for crop and livestock production that take into account the protection of the environment, energy expenditures, economics, and associated aspects of farming.

History of Conferences
The very first international soil tillage conference in 1955, at Uppsala, Sweden was organized by Prof. Gunner Torstensson. Subsequent conferences were held in 1958 ( Stuttgart Hohenheim, Germany), 1962 (Doorwerth, The Netherlands), 1965 ( Aas, Norway), 1970 ( Silsoe, UK) and 1973 (Wageningen, The Netherlands).

At the 1973 conference, to ensure continued interaction among tillage workers, ISTRO was founded. To provide historical perspective to past tillage-related conferences, the conference in Wageningen in 1973 was designated the 6th International Conference.

Subsequently, ISTRO has held international conferences every three years. Beginning in 1976, the ISTRO conferences were held at three year intervals in Uppsala ( Sweden), Stuttgart-Hohenheim ( Germany), Osijek ( Croatia), Guelph ( Canada), Edinburgh ( Scotland), Ibadan ( Nigeria), Aalborg ( Denmark), Pulawy ( Poland) and Fort Worth, Texas, USA. The most recent ISTRO conference was held in 2003 at Brisbane ( Australia).

Recent Conferences
The 16th Conference was held in Brisbane, Australia in the year 2003.  The Conference theme was, Soil Management for Sustainability.

The 17th Conference was held in Kiel, Germany in 2006.  The Conference theme was, Sustainability – It’s Impact on Soil Management and Environment.

The 18th Conference will be in Izmir, Turkey in 2009.  It’s theme is <fill in theme>. Contact Jan van den Akker for information.

The 19th Conference will be in Uruguay in 2012.

ISTRO Interest Areas
ISTRO has identified eight specific areas, called ISTRO Interest Areas, in which members may identify themselves. These include: Soil Physics, Soil and Water Management, Soil Chemistry, Environmental Quality, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Tillage Implements, Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition and Crop Protection.





Publications
ISTRO supports two different types of publications:

• ISTRO-INFO is published 4 – 6 times per year and provides a means of rapid communication of new developments in tillage, upcoming meetings, and relevant research and technology results that have application to soil tillage. ISTRO-INFO acts also as a bulletin of news and information about progress in soil tillage research in its broadest sense and of other matters of interest to the membership of ISTRO.
• The research journal Soil & Tillage Research is published by Elsevier in collaboration with ISTRO.

More information on publications can be found on the publications page.

Soil & Tillage Research
This journal is concerned with changes in the physical, chemical, and biological parameters of the soil brought about by tillage and field traffic, their effects on crop establishment, root development and plant growth, environmental quality and their interactions. Soil & Tillage Research is abstracted/ indexed in Agricultural Engineering Abstracts, Biological Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts, Current Contents, The Science Citation Index, Environmental Periodicals Bibliography, and Soils & Fertilizers.

Titles of recent issues of the journal can be scanned and searched on the journal's Home Page on the World Wide Web ( htt p://www.scien ce direct.c om/science/journal/01671987).

ISTRO members are eligible to subscribe to Soil & Tillage Research at a special rate. In 2005, the annual member subscription rate is US$75/year, including postage. One does not need to be a member of ISTRO to publish in Soil & Tillage Research. For guidelines please consult the Guide on the journal's Home Page.

The journal Soil & Tillage Research is published by Elsevier in collaboration with ISTRO.

Membership
ISTRO welcomes as members all persons and institutions interested in the study or application of soil tillage and related subjects. ISTRO has approximately 700 members in more than 70 countries. There are five categories of membership: individual, student, corporate, honorary, and retired members.

• Individual membership fees are (in US dollars) $21/year (base membership fee)
• or $96/year (base membership fee plus subscription to Soil & Tillage Research journal).
• Membership fee is reduced to US$ 7 for members from Low-Income, Lower-Middle-Income and Upper-Middle Income Economies as defined on the World Bank website.
• Corporate members pay $84/year (base fee which includes one voting and three nonvoting members).
• Retired members pay $7/year.
• Students pay $7/year.

Membership application is done trough the membership page.

Working Group F. Visual Soil Examination and Evaluation
David McKenzie (Chairman) Brian Murphy (Secretary)

Working Group H. Tillage Erosion
Tom Schumacher (president); Goswin Heckrath; David Lobb (website)
Website www.tillage-erosion.org

Working Group J. Resource-Conserving Planting Systems  For Developing Country Agriculture (closed in 2006).
Jeff Tullberg.
Website www.aciar.gov.au/web.nsf/doc/ACIA-6MP3Z8

Working Group K. Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF)
Tim Chamen   
Website www.controlledtrafficfarming.com