A lifelong no-tiller says equipment adjustments have helped improve his soil health and profitability.

Jeff Stuck tells Brownfield Ag News that his father first started no-tilling after a severe drought in the mid-1970s, and Stuck kept up the practice for more than 30 years on his farm.

“We run a chopping corn head because we want that residue chopped up” he says. “There’s a lot of nutrient value in that residue, and I want to get it broken down and returned back into the earth so the next crop can use it. We have our planter set up so we can plant through it, and our costs are lower. We don’t have to have a full line of expensive tillage equipment.”

He says his corn-on-corn irrigated fields push up to 300-bushel yields with limited fertilizer and herbicide applications.

After 30 years of no-tilling, Stuck has noticed increased yield and decreased use of herbicides.

“There was no burndown on the home farm this year,” he says. “This never got a herbicide application until the corn was V4-V5, and it’s clean. That’s a big cost savings. Right now, we’re about $15 per acre for our herbicide program. That’s pretty cheap.”

Another benefit of no-tilling is the lack of expensive tillage equipment needed.

“Our costs are lower,” Stuck says. “We don’t have to have a full line of expensive tillage equipment, which I call recreational tillage, because you’re burning a lot of money, time and fuel on something that I can raise a better or as good a crop my way, rather than people spending a lot more money per acre.”

Stuck says crops this year have been variable because of excessive rains, but his fields have been able to drain freely. Nearby fields had over 1 foot of standing water in some places.

Stuck was then asked to give some advice to discouraged no-tillers.

“Don’t give up so easy,” Stuck says. “If you run up against a brick wall, find around it. You gotta be very inquisitive, like a detective. Why did it fail? What can I do to alleviate that problem and go to the next one?”

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