: to plow, harrow, and break up (land) without seeding to destroy weeds and conserve soil moisture

It just sank in, this was the theory that was responsible for the Great Dust Bowl in the Canadian Prairies. During the drought the farmers were advised to plow and harrow the land then leave it fallow to conserve the moisture. Instead the soil, without the root system of either weeds or crops to hold it, dried to dust and the most valuable topsoil simply blew away in the hot summer winds.